Holidays are over....

The long and lovely summer holidays have ended, kids are back at school and reality sets in again. Now I have more need to look to the Thermomix for easy dinners again rather than lazing around the BBQ. I had a bag of grape tomatoes in the fridge that needed using so I did an old fave of mine but with help from the thermo. I lined a shallow baking tray with baking paper and spread around 700g of grape tomatoes evenly out (only do this when they are seasonal and cheap as they are in Perth right now or it could be expensive). Next I threw in a whole unpeeled bulb of garlic and buried a whole skinless chicken breast in the tomatoes covering where I could. Then I sprinkled a pinch of sea salt, 1 tsp dried chilli flakes, laid 4 anchovy fillets across the top and a generous grind of pepper. Finally I liberally splashed olive oil over- say 2tbs and shook the tray a bit to combine and put in the oven at 175 fan forced for 30 mins. So far no peeling, chopping etc so very easy! While that's baking if you don't have any Parmesan or similar cheese already grated in the fridge use the Thermomix to grate some up and set aside. Cook up enough spaghetti or any ribbon pasta you fancy in the thermo as you normally would and set aside to drain. Once your tomato mix is done check to see if they are starting to split and collapse, if not give them a few more minutes. Set aside the chicken and garlic bulb and tip the rest including all the pan juices into the thermo bowl. Blitz at speed 5 for 5 seconds for a chunky texture and longer if you prefer smoother. Test for seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste. Slice then chop the chicken and add in, then slice the whole bulb of garlic across the top exposing the cloves by cross section and squeeze the soft garlic in too. I like to use about 1 tsp and save the bulb in the fridge for the next few days. Yummy in salad dressing or for bruschetta. Finally chuck in the cooked pasta and stir on reverse just long enough to combine and serve topped with the grated cheese and some shredded fresh basil. This makes enough sauce for 2 adults and 2 young kids ie smaller serves, or two really saucy adult serves, so just adjust pasta portions to suit. Variations to the sauce that I have tried- adding olives and capers to the roasting pan, pesto at the blending stage, leaving the chicken out and stirring a can of tuna in with the roasted sauce and cooked pasta.