Penne with Two Tomatoes and Mozzarella

6 oz fresh Mozarella, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

coarse Salt and ground Pepper

12 oz Penne Rigate

1 tablespoon Olive Oil

1 pint Cherry or Grape Tomatoes

1/2 cup Sun-Dried Tomatoes, sliced

2 Garlic Cloves, sliced

1/4 cup snipped Chives

1. Place cheese in freezer. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta water; drain pasta and set aside.

2. In pasta pot, heat oil over medium-high. Add cherry tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic and pasta water. Cook until cherry tomatoes soften, 2-4 minutes.

3.  Add pasta, chilled cheese and chives to pot, season with salt and pepper, toss to combine.

---Review---

I used to think that Brandon and I carried all available pastas on our cupboard shelves. I have learned that this is not even a little correct. The closest thing that I had when making this recipe was whole wheat Rotini, which is similar to Penne because... it is also a grain. Not that big of a change, but next time I'll probably use Penne as I think it will better hold onto the garlic.

Speaking of garlic, I would recommend dicing it for this recipe. The slicing really made me feel as if I only got about 3 bites of dinner with garlic in it, which was quite sad for me as I love garlic.

I wasn't really sure what the recipe meant when it said that the tomatoes would soften until the first one popped and squirted it's boiling insides at my face. Keep an eye out, once a couple of the tomatoes start to soften they all do very quickly.

All in all this was a really easy, very tasty recipe. I even enjoyed it cold for lunch today.