Rigatoni with Roasted Tomatoes, Ricotta, and Mint

Serves 4

I HAVE MADE MORE PASTA in the six years since my first son was born than I’d made in all the years before that. Parents always seem to bemoan the fact that their children are subsisting on a diet of buttered noodles, but I side with the kids: pasta with salted butter and Parmigiano is one of the world’s great foods. Still, it’s my motherly duty to expand my kids’ palates, and this pasta is straightforward enough that my boys will eat it but also interesting enough that parents dig it too.

Slow-cooking the tomatoes in a generous amount of olive oil until they slump in the pan renders them sweet and soft, even if you’re beginning with less than prime specimens, and the tomato–olive oil matrix that forms in the bottom of the roasting dish becomes the light sauce for the pasta (I use this same roasting method here). Instead of stirring in the ricotta, which dilutes the tomato sauce and turns it an icky pink color, I dollop it on top so you can take a bit with each bite. You can use any short dry pasta you prefer, but my children like slipping the fat rigatoni noodles on their fingers before they eat them, so that’s what I use.

1 cup fresh whole-milk ricotta

⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil

1½ pounds small tomatoes, cored and halved

3 cloves garlic, peeled and slivered

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 sprigs fresh thyme

1 sprig fresh rosemary

12 ounces rigatoni

¼ cup fresh mint leaves, finely chopped, plus some for garnish

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Put the ricotta in an ovenproof bowl and set aside. Pour 1 tablespoon of the olive oil into the baking dish and arrange the tomatoes in a single layer in the dish, cut-side down. Drizzle the remaining oil over the tomatoes, sprinkle the garlic over, tucking it between the tomatoes, and season with salt and pepper. Add the thyme and rosemary sprigs. Transfer to the oven and roast until the tomatoes are slumped and soft, about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and, with your fingers, pluck off and discard the tomato skins. Transfer the tomatoes and accumulated juices to a large bowl. Turn the oven off and put the ricotta in the oven to warm slightly while you cook the pasta.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. When the water is boiling, add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain, reserving 1 cup of the pasta cooking water, and immediately add the pasta to the bowl with the tomatoes. Stir to combine, adding some of the pasta cooking water as needed, until the rigatoni is well coated. Add the mint and stir to mix, then transfer to a serving platter. Remove the ricotta from the oven and dollop spoonfuls of it on top of the pasta. Drizzle with a ribbon of olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and garnish with mint. Serve.