I was in Ojai cooking at Summer House, a collaborative dinner at Casa Elar at Ojai Valley Inn, and Brandon Jew served Sun Gold tomatoes with fig leaf tofu and trout roe. One bite reminded me why I wait for tomato season every year.
This pasta is one I make on repeat all summer. The tomatoes are roasted until they’re sweet and jammy, then blended into a silky sauce that coats every strand of pasta. It’s simple, mostly hands-off, and lets really good tomatoes be the star instead of covering them up.
Recipe below.
Sun Gold Tomato Pasta
Sun Gold tomatoes are sweeter than your average cherry tomato, with a deep savory flavor I can never get enough of. This bright, jammy pasta is one of my favorite things to make all summer long.
Ingredients
Method
- Preheat the air fryer or oven to 375ºF.
- Remove green stems from sun gold tomatoes and place in a loaf pan or other oven safe dish with garlic cloves. Drizzle the tomatoes and garlic with olive oil and ½ teaspoon of salt. Toss the tomatoes and garlic with the olive oil until they are well coated. Make sure the garlic cloves are underneath the tomatoes so that they don’t burn.
- Place the pan in the air-fryer or oven for 10 minutes. If using an oven, place the pan on the second-highest rack. After 10 minutes, stir the tomatoes around and place back into the air-fryer or oven for an additional 10 minutes. The garlic should be cooked enough that it easily smashes with a spoon.
- Transfer the tomatoes, garlic, and all of its juices into a blender and blend until smooth.
- Cook pasta al dente in salted water, about 1-2 minutes less than package instructions. Reserve pasta water.
- Heat up a skillet to medium low heat. Add a drizzle of olive oil then the sun gold tomato sauce. While continuously stirring, cook the sauce for about 10 minutes, until it reduces and has a nice jammy consistency.
- After 10 minutes, add in pasta noodles and about ⅓ cup of pasta water. Turn up the heat to medium and toss the pasta into the sauce until it is well incorporated. Add more pasta water in small increments as necessary. Once the sauce is at the desired consistency, turn off the heat.
- Add in parmesan cheese and butter into the pasta and stir together. Taste and adjust for salt if needed.
- Serve with freshly grated parmesan on top and enjoy!
