This week our selection comes from Peggy… Penne with Grape Tomatoes, Spinach and Toasted Garlic. Another recipe that goes together in less time than it takes to boil water and cook the pasta. 
There isn’t a lot going on here…whole wheat penne pasta….grape tomatoes and spinach sauteed in toasted garlic olive oil, with a shake of freshly grated parmesan. I think the lack of popping flavor has to do with the time of the year I fixed this….February. This would be a lot better with fresh, Summer tomatoes…and a chiffonade of fresh basil. My only complaint is the flavors are lacking. Salt and pepper helped some, but not quite enough. Again… I think it had a lot to do with almost red, semi-tasteless hot-house tomatoes. That’s okay. We’ll try it again during the height of summer with fresh from the Farmers’ Market tomatoes, when it’s hot and something quick off the stove is ideal. There’s a time and place….
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Yep, the season for tomatoes would make a great difference. I used little grape tomatoes and lots of seasoning and that helped.
Your pasta looks so bright and cherry! A shame that the tomatoes didn’t live up to their promise. I liked this one.
We did like this one a lot and I thought the little toasted garlic pieces gave the whole thing a nice flavor kick. I also thought that cooking the tomato halves brought out some flavor as you are right, this time of year, they don’t have a whole lot of flavor. The roasted tomato halves also made a little bit of sauce from the juice that I found nice. I bet you could add some different herbs and spices to get it where you want it to go, though! The basil idea sounds wonderful indeed. Such a pretty picture. 🙂