The beauty of this recipe lies in its cooking method. Roasting the sliced fennel and tomatoes in a hot oven not only tenderizes the vegetables, but caramelizes them as well (which is just a fancy way of saying that their natural sweetness is revealed.) By roasting the veggies and not sautéing them, this also makes for a relatively hands-off pasta dish as well. The veggies are tossed together with al dente short pasta (any variety works just fine), hot chili paste, fresh herbs, sliced salami and both Parmesan and mozzarella cheese.  If you are feeling extra fancy, I would recommend using torn pieces of burrata instead of fresh mozzarella—I think the creaminess of the burrata paired with the spicy chili paste would be simply grand.

Tagged: cavatappi, cherry tomatoes, fennel, Fine Cooking, Fine Cooking magazine, fresh mozzarella cheese, fresh parsley, hot chili paste, hot peppers, mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, pasta, penne, roasted fennel, roasted tomatoes, salami, short pasta