Creamy Roasted Tomato Pasta

The other night Kurt was going to be at the UW Badger football game so I had a free night where I didn't need to worry about dinner for him. And as the saying goes, "when the cat's away the mouse will play!" When Kurt is gone I usually make pasta (duh) because I honestly could eat pasta every.single.night. One of my favorite blogs is Stephanie Cooks and she is as big of a fan of pasta as I am, probably one of the reasons I like to read her blog so much! She made this delicious Pasta with Marscapone and Roasted Grape Tomatoes that I had been eyeing up and figured that, since Kurt wasn't home, it was probably a good night to make it. So I picked Riglee up from daycare and stopped by the grocery store on the way home. Well, this is not my typical grocery store and when I went in there I found pasta that would work but I could not find marscapone cheese! Sadly this store did not carry marscapone cheese and the confused worker looked at me like I was from out of space asking for this "specialty" cheese. So I improvised on this recipe and used cheeses that I had at home instead.


I was actually surprised at how yummy this turned out and I am even more excited to try the Pasta with Marscapone and Roasted Grape Tomatoes now! This dish was very creamy with an underlying tomato flavor that was just delicious! I didn't have a full pint of tomatoes and I think having the full amount of tomatoes would have really kicked it up a notch. The cream cheese made this really creamy and the goat cheese added just enough tang to the sauce. The flavors really went well together, so well in fact that I had 2 full bowls and went back for thirds only to realize I should probably stop since I've eaten over half a pound of pasta by myself! Give it a try and let me know what you think!


Creamy Roasted Tomato Pasta
Source: Me, Adapted from Stephanie Cooks


Ingredients:
12 oz uncooked smaller pasta (I used Barilla tri-color rotini)
4 oz. reduced fat cream cheese
2 oz. goat cheese
1/4 cup white wine
1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes
olive oil (EVOO)
salt & pepper
garlic salt


Directions:
1. Halve tomatoes and place on a foil liked baking sheet. Drizzle with EVOO and add salt, pepper and garlic salt to your liking. Roast in a 375 degree oven for 20 minutes, stirring halfway through.
2. While the tomatoes are roasting, bring a pot of water to a boil. Once boiling add pasta and cook as directed to al dente. Reserve 1 cup of the cooking water and drain pasta.
3. When the tomatoes are done roasting, pour them and any EVOO into a big bowl. Mash them with a fork or a potato masher.
4. Add white wine to the tomatoes. Then add cream cheese and goat cheese and stir to get the cheeses to start melting. Add pasta to the pasta/cheese mixture and stir until both cheeses are completely melted and serve!


**You can add parmesan cheese to the mixture or sprinkle some on top for serving. Being as I'm from Wisconsin I firmly believe the more cheese the better!