Caprese Pasta & Parmesan Roasted Zucchini

I planned to share a few of our recent meals today, but last night I had the chance to cook completely from scratch and came up with the yummiest recipe!

Making up recipes as I go is something I used to do all the time before Ryan was born and something I should make more time for now. Last night Ryan went down early and Matt and I were just hanging in the kitchen while I cooked, and it felt like old times. I love making things up as a I go and seeing what can happen with a recipe. Sometimes the outcome is not ideal, haha, but last night- it was GOOD!

If you've followed this blog for even a day, you know that I am a pasta-holic. Usually, I cook some sort of meat as a side for my meat-loving hubs, but last night, it was all pasta and we were both a-okay with it.

So enough of the build-up, here's the recipe!

Ingredients:

3/4lb rigatoni

1 sweet onion, diced
2T butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1 container grape tomatoes, halved (1pint)
1 cup red wine ( I used Woodbridge Cabernet)
1/4 tsp salt
2T heavy cream
1/2 cup pasta water
8oz fresh mozzarella pearls (I used these)

fresh parmesan (I used Locatelli... because it's the best) ;)

Directions:

Saute onions in butter on medium heat for 5-7 minutes, until onions are slightly brown. Add garlic, simmer for 2 more minutes. Add tomatoes and wine, reduce heat to low (still allowing a low simmer) and cover for 7 minutes. Remove lid and burst tomatoes (I use a potato masher for this). Add salt and heavy cream. Allow to simmer on low while pasta cooks.

In a large pot, bring heavily salted water to a boil. Cook pasta to al dente. Before draining the pasta, remove 1/2 cup of pasta water and add to the sauce.

Drain pasta and return to pot. Cover with sauce. Add in mozzarella pearls and stir just long enough to warm them but not long enough that they melt (less than a minute).

Garnish with lots of fresh parmesan.

The longer this sauce simmers, the better it tastes! Also the tomatoes and type of wine you buy really determine the flavor of the sauce, so don't skimp on either.

Also, I was kicking myself for not adding fresh basil to this, but after tasting it, I'm actually glad I left it out. The sauce was sweet and robust from the wine and tomatoes, and sometimes those little basil leaves just get it the way of a yummy bite. ;)

For the vegetable, I made a new zucchini recipe that was so super easy and is now my new favorite way to eat zucchini!

Ingredients:

1-2 sliced zucchini

1T butter

Cavendar's Greek Seasoning (looks like this and found with the spices)

Parmesan

Directions:

Melt butter. Using a basting brush, spread butter over zucchini. Sprinkle with Cavendar's. Grate parmesan on top. Roast on 400 for 15 minutes.

Hope you guys enjoy these recipes as much as we did last night! Today we're off to Charleston for the weekend. We love a good road trip- especially one to visit friends! 

Hope y'all have a great weekend!