Oven-Roasted Tomato Sauce [with BUTTER]

Winter is a great time for extensive cooking projects (lasagna, for example, or veggie burgers). But it’s also a great time to be lazy and just throw some stuff in the oven while you watch Pitch Perfect for the seventh time.
I make sauce on the stove all the time, but I’d never tried roasting tomatoes for sauce in the oven before. I’d also never gotten a recipe to look exactly like the picture in the magazine before.

This sauce is so easy that even all of you who claim you can’t cook can make it—all you have to do is dump your ingredients in a baking dish and put it in the oven. That’s it. Not kidding. This is the ultimate lazy person’s dish, and also the ultimate dish for tricking people into thinking you did way more work.
The recipe as printed in Bon Appetit calls for quite a bit of garlic. I really love garlic, but I still thought it was too much, so my recipe below includes less than they call for. If you’re really opposed to anchovies, you can definitely omit them and not miss too much, but they do add a nice savory-ness (real word) to the sauce.

Oven-Roasted Tomato Sauce with Butter (adapted from Bon Appetit)
Ingredients
1 28-ounce can whole, peeled tomatoes (without added salt)
5 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
2 anchovy fillets packed in oil
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) salted butter, cut into pieces
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
salt and pepper, to taste
freshly grated parmesan cheese
pasta of your choosing

Preheat oven to 425. Crush tomatoes with your hands as you add them to a glass* 8×8 baking dish. Add garlic, anchovies, butter, red pepper, salt, and pepper, stirring to combine.

Bake tomato mixture for 45 minutes, stirring things up about halfway through; anchovies and garlic should be very soft. Using a fork or snazzier mashing tool, mash up garlic and anchovies and stir to evenly distribute. Add some parmesan and stir. Combine sauce with cooked pasta, stirring until well mixed. Divide between bowls and top with lots more cheese, because cheese.

P.S. This recipe is way more fun to make if you keep pronouncing butter as BUTTEEEEEEH.

*Stonewear is okay, just do not use a metal pan — metal can sometimes react with the acid in the tomatoes and that is not a flavor you want.

Running + Replacing Lost Energy with Healthy-ish Meals [Recipe!]

At the start of 2013 I decided that my new year’s resolution would be to be better at life. While I’m still terrible about keeping my room organized, I have been good about making a conscious effort to be more healthy. I signed up for a gym membership and committed myself to going the easily achievable two days a week. A few weeks ago, I upped that to three days a week because I downloaded the Couch to 5K app, and it assumed a three-day workout week. I wasn’t originally planning to run a 5K, but after feeling like the elliptical wasn’t doing anything I wanted to try running, and a friend recommended that app as a good way to ease into it.

At the start of week three, when I was finding the app challenging yet doable, my false confidence propelled me to sign up for an actual 5K at the Bronx Zoo (you can donate to the elephants here). Naturally, at week four, after committing, the app took a turn for the HOLYOMGHOWAMIGOINGTODOTHIS. It turns out that running for 5 minute intervals is a lot harder than running for 3. Right now I’m just hoping it gets easier and that by race day I can actually run most of the race, but I’m very nervous!

In the meantime I am rewarding my post-run ravenous self with meals that are filling but not too unhealthy, like this veggie-packed pasta dish. Since the vegetables are the focus, this would be incredibly easy to make with your favorite gluten-free pasta (speaking of, what’s the best kind?).

Spring Greens Pasta

Ingredients
3 cups broccoli florets (I just use one package of Trader Joe’s organic florets)
2/3 cup frozen peas
4 to 6 handfuls of baby arugula
3 largeish garlic cloves, minced
1 package fresh spinach pasta, or 3/4 lb of your favorite gluten-free pasta
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
olive oil
salt
pepper
red pepper flakes

Instructions
Bring a large pot of water to boil. While water is boiling, heat enough olive oil to comfortably cover the bottom of a large skillet over medium heat. Add broccoli and enough salt, pepper, and red pepper to a bit stronger than your tastes. Cook for 2 minutes, then add garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, until broccoli is browned in places. You may need to add more olive oil as the broccoli absorbs it.

When water is boiling, add some giant pinches of salt, then pasta. Add peas one minute before pasta is done. Scoop out some of the pasta water (I use a juice glass), then drain pasta and peas and add them to the skillet with the broccoli. Add some large splashes of pasta water, the arugula, and half the cheese, and stir until all is combined and arugula is wilted. Taste for seasoning and add more if necessary. Divide into bowls and top with more olive oil and the rest of the cheese. Enjoy!

Now you tell me: what’s the best brand of gluten-free pasta?