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The Garden House (Devon, England)

The destinations are beginning to blur but looking at the tour guide booklet, I see that we are now in Plymouth. Today, we visited two gardens designed by Keith Wiley.  The first is The Garden House , where Wiley worked as Head Gardener for 25 years (from 1978-2003). The 10-acre estate was purchased in the 1940s by former Eton schoolmaster Lionel Fortescue and his wife Katherine. It was formerly home to the  vicars of Buckland Monachronum. The Fortescue's renovated the gardens and ran a market garden business and raised cattle.  The remains of some of the original buildings in the vicarage still stand in the garden and serve as a romantic backdrop in the Walled Garden - I loved the way they had massed ferns together. Just stunning! Surrounding the walled garden and venturing out away from the house are more naturalistic plantings  - Today, the head gardener is Nick Haworth, who was previously head gardener at Greenway , which we visited earlier.  Keith Wiley lef...

Mediterranean Pasta with Roasted Tomatoes


 

Another recipe -

I'm not sure where this recipe came from but it has become one of our favorites. This is surprising because I don't really like pasta or tomatoes. However, we use angel hair pasta which doesn't bother me too much (I take small portions). As for tomatoes, roasting them is  my favorite way to eat them. This is a very satisfying meal with bread and a salad. A summer recipe no doubt, but really good in the middle of winter too.

2 lbs. grape or plum tomatoes, halved lenghtwise
1/2 cup olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 TBS. Italian dressing
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper (or more if you like it spicy)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
8 oz. pasta (Angel hair or any kind you prefer)
Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 400.

Place the tomatoes, cut side up, on a foil-lined 15 x 10 x 1" pan sprayed with cooking spray or rubbed with olive oil.



Whisk together the olive oil (reserving 2 tablespoons), garlic and seasonings. Spoon over the tomatoes.


 

Roast in the oven for 45-50 minutes until the tomatoes are soft and browned on top.

Prepare the pasta. 

Place half of the tomatoes in a bowl and toss with the 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the pasta. Add the remaining tomatoes. 

Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

 

Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy

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