Give cherry tomatoes a couple hours in a low heat oven, and you’ll witness magic. Toss them with a fresh pesto linguine, and you’ll eat till you burst. Try this fresh pesto linguine with cherry tomato confit tonight and see for yourself.

The other night, the hungry mouths in my house were in the mood for something summery. I had just made a batch of fresh Pesto the day before, and decided pasta was the candidate getting my vote today. The kitchen was admittedly not perfectly clean, and I didn’t feel like making that mess even bigger so the bowl of cherry tomatoes on the counter was the only other ingredient I was willing to work with. Inspired by a recent post I read on NYT Cooking, I decided cherry tomato confit was happening.

Cherry Tomato Confit

To confit is simply defined as a method of cooking with low heat over a long period of time as a way of preserving. Basically you are cooking the tomatoes low and slow with a good amount of oil until they are wilted, but still whole. This creates and amazing texture, and rich flavor without loosing any of the juices. They are soft, sweet, and burst when you bite into them. These babies were perfect for this simple pasta, but they are also extremely versatile. Great on toast, as a topping for roasted meats, or even just snacked on as is. Make in bulk by doubling or tripling the recipe, and store in the freezer ready to defrost for quick meals.

Fresh Pesto

The key is really the fresh pesto. If you’re not familiar with pesto, it is a traditional Italian table sauce usually made from:

Pine nuts
Fresh greens (Basil, sometimes spinach, and parsley)
Olive Oil
Parmesan Cheese
Garlic
Salt and Pepper

I recently posted my recipe for a quick easy version, which you can find here. I love a good red sauce, but on this particular night, the contrast of the herby, garlicky pesto, and sweet cherry tomato confit hit just right. When you make the pesto, I highly recommend you make enough to try these ridiculously good BLT paninis:

Linguine Pasta

Linguine is the pasta that I had on hand when making this pasta, but any type of long noodle would work great. Some good options would be:

Spaghetti
Angel Hair
Bucatini
fettuccini

Recipe Tips

So making the Cherry Tomato Confit does take a bit of time, but the good news is that you can easily make a large batch ahead of time and use it for this recipe, as well as many others! It freezes well, and can be gently reheated while maintaining it’s amazing taste and textures.

When you’re combining the pesto and pasta, make sure to add the reserved water slowly, while mixing. This helps avoid clumps, and allows the sauce to emulsify evenly coating the pasta.