One of my boys’ favorite things to do during the summer is to walk to the garden with their grandpa and pick the fresh treasures of the day. Sometimes fruits and veggies are eaten right off the plant (have you ever had a fig right off the tree? It’s heaven), and sometimes they are brought into the kitchen and await being prepared for that night’s dinner. One of our family’s go to summer meals is pasta with fresh tomatoes. We are a big Italian family, and we like to have our pasta on Sunday, but we don’t like standing over our stove for hours preparing tomato sauce in the warm months. This is a rustic, colorful and fresh version of a tomato sauce where you can put all of your sweet farm fresh or garden grown tomatoes to good use.
Pasta with fresh tomatoes
Serves 4 as a main course (or make this as a side dish to a delicious BBQ dinner!)
Ingredients:
3 tbsp of good olive oil
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 bunch scallions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3 lbs of Roma (plum) tomatoes, washed and chopped
Salt to taste (be generous)
Handful of basil, chiffonade
1 lb. of your favorite pasta (I like angel hair best with this dish)
1/4 cup Parmigiana Reggiano or Grana Padano cheese, grated
Directions:
Pasta with fresh tomatoes
Serves 4 as a main course (or make this as a side dish to a delicious BBQ dinner!)
Ingredients:
3 tbsp of good olive oil
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 bunch scallions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3 lbs of Roma (plum) tomatoes, washed and chopped
Salt to taste (be generous)
Handful of basil, chiffonade
1 lb. of your favorite pasta (I like angel hair best with this dish)
1/4 cup Parmigiana Reggiano or Grana Padano cheese, grated
Directions:
- In a heavy sauce pan, heat olive oil and butter over medium heat. Add chopped scallions and garlic, cook until transparent, but being careful not to burn (burned garlic is very bitter!).
- Add chopped tomatoes. Salt generously! Let the tomatoes cook down for about 15 minutes or until soft (smush them with your spoon a bit). You want the tomatoes to still be chunky, as this is a rustic tomato sauce. In the last few minutes of cooking time, add the basil to the pot.
- Cook your favorite pasta as directed until al dente. Spoon the tomato over the pasta and mix in the grated cheese.
- Garnish with some fresh basil leaves. Bon Appetito!
