Will Cook for Tomatoes (Pasta with Tomatoes, Garlic and Basil)
This is going to be a short post. I wanted to make sure I posted while all of you are harvesting your bushels of homegrown tomatoes (I am so jealous). Yes, I see your photos on FB and Instagram of all those love apples ripening on the vine in your backyard. I see the basket on your kitchen counter overflowing with heirloom tomatoes, Sweet 100’s and Early Girls and those gorgeous salads you are making with them. I hate you. Ok, I’m kidding, I don’t really hate you, but I do have tomato envy-so, so jealous. We just haven’t had much luck with tomatoes lately. After looking at our sad vines, I caved and bought some dry farm tomatoes at the Farmer’s Market, I couldn’t resist.
I made a beeline home and used those tomatoes, and the few I was able to pull off our vines (so few, so sad), to make my favorite pasta dish, Angel Hair Pasta with Tomato, Garlic, and Basil. This dish captures the essence of summer, where the star are those vine-ripened, luscious tomatoes. You know, the ones you grew and I had to buy (auugh, so fixated). I pulled out my dog-eared copy of Kuleto’s Contemporary Italian Cookbook and flipped to the page for Angel Hair Pasta with Tomato, Garlic and Basil and in barely 30 minutes we were sitting down to the best damn bowl of pasta. So delicious, so easy and so simple.
All you need for this dish, besides tomatoes, is noodles, olive oil, garlic, and basil. That’s pretty much it. How simple is that?! In full transparency, I didn’t have angel hair pasta so I used linguine fini. Normally I would say NBD, but in this case, use angel hair pasta, it is the perfect match for this sauce.
So, yes, despite my tomato envy I’m passing this delicious recipe along to all of you who have that “difficult task” of figuring out what to do with all those homegrown tomatoes. ALTHOUGH…another option, you could call me, I’ll gladly take some off your hands!
Angel Hair Pasta with Tomatoes, Garlic, and Basil
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup garlic thinly sliced
- 7 tbsp olive oil extra virgin
- 2 cups fresh tomatoes seeded and diced, ~ 1pound
- 2/3 cup basil leaves roughly chopped or julienned
- 3/4 tsp kosher salt or to taste
- 1/2 TSP black pepper freshly ground
- 6 ounces Angel Hair Pasta Capellini
Instructions
- Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in sauce pan over medium high heat. Add garlic and cook slowly until garlic is lightly and evenly browned. Reduce heat to low add tomatoes, basil, salt and pepper. Cook just until tomatoes are heated through. Remove 1/3 sauce from skillet and reserve.Meanwhile, cook pasta according to directions in boiling, salted water. Drain and add pasta and remaining olive oil to skillet. Toss to coat with oil. Remove to serving bowl or leave in skillet and top with remaining sauce. Serve with freshly grated parmesan if desired.