More tomatoes

In all seriousness, we are so spoiled by so many tomatoes this year, that I need to get to work preserving some of them rather than eating them every night.

Maybe tomorrow. Tonight, I did a little experimenting in the kitchen and came up with this for dinner:

Roasted cherry tomato penne with white (bechamel) sauce.  Pretty simple.  We had half a box of penne left over from Monday (pasta twice in three days...)  I love the sweetness the cherry tomatoes release from the roasting process.  

Here's how it ended up unfolding:  I took three handfuls of cherry tomatoes, a couple cloves of smashed garlic, and a red onion sliced.  Place them on a baking pan and drizzle with olive oil, s/p. Toss to evenly coat with oil.  Roast at 450 degrees for about 10-15 minutes. 

Meanwhile, cook penne until just slighly under al dente.  

To make the bechamel sauce, melt 2 tbl. of butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Whisk in 2 tbl. of flour. Stir for about 1 min.  Whisk in 1 cup of milk.  Continue whisking and cook until sauce thickens. 

While penne and sauce cook and tomatoes cool, pour 1/2 c. italian bread or panko crumbs in a bowl.  Add 2 tbl. olive oil, s/p and stir to combine.  Set aside.

After draining pasta, add it to an oven safe dish and mix with tomato mixture.  Shred a few leaves of fresh basil and stir to combine.  Pour over sauce and mix evening.  Evenly spread breadcrumbs on top of pasta.  Bake for 30 minutes or until sauce is bubbling and breadcrumbs are golden.

We eat a simple romaine salad with most dinners, especially during the summer, and it all went so nicely together.

In other news, I made Nate this hemp anklet with his initials:  

One day, I'll make one for Andy and I, too.  Need to can those tomatoes first, tho.