Heinen's #4PMPanic Italian Pasta

This recipe is perfect for those busy days when you completely forget to make dinner plans. It can be made in just 30 minutes and it's insanely fresh and delicious! It can also feed a a big family; there are 7 in mine, and we did not have any leftovers! 

So last week I was in my natural habitat (shopping at Heinen's) and noticed that there was a new product in the cheese department. It's called burrata cheese. For those of you that don't know, it's an Italian cheese similar to mozzarella, but instead of a solid cheese, it's a mixture of cream and mozzarella. With that being said, when it's cut open, it oozes out and it's insanely rich and delicious. 

All of the ingredients in this dish are either local and/or organic, and perfectly fresh tasting. The basil that I purchased for this recipe was actually 'live basil', and it came in an open package with a wet block of soil where the basil roots were still technically underground! How cool! If you're going to eat a large portion of pasta you might as well be eating it the right way--aka mixed with all local, fresh, and the best quality ingredients possible. It's also awesome to support our local farmers who are willing to provide Heinen's with their top notch plants and vegetables, at least we know it's not super processed, and it didn't have to travel too far to get to our plate. 

Ingredients: 

• 1 large carton of cherry tomatoes (about 20) halved. You can also use grape tomatoes, as long as you have a large baking sheet full of halved small(ish) tomatoes. 
  
• 1 tablespoon of coarse sea salt
  
• 1 tablespoon of coarse black pepper
  
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 lb of mezzi rigatoni pasta (about 1 box)
• 4-5 stalks of fresh basil
• 1 cup of olive oil for various parts of recipe
• 1 package of Heinen’s burrata cheese

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Cut all tomatoes in half and mix in a bowl with about ¼ cup of olive oil, sea salt, and black pepper. Pour the mixture onto a cookie sheet that’s lined with tinfoil. Bake the tomatoes for 20 minutes.
3. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook the pasta according to package directions. Be sure to add a little salt to the water for flavor. 
4. While the pasta and tomatoes are cooking, mince the garlic and sprinkle over the tomatoes in the oven for the last 10 minutes of baking.
5. Rip up all of the basil leaves and place in a bowl.
6. Scoop the roasted tomatoes into a bowl and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon. Don’t be afraid to mash them up a bit- this mixture is the base for your sauce. Add in the basil and another ¼ cup of olive oil, then stir again. 
7. Pour the sauce over the pasta and mix well. Serve pasta with 1 or two dollops of burrata cheese, I like to pour a little bit of olive oil over the cheese as well as sprinkle some crushed black pepper and salt.