Recipe: Pasta and Tomatoes
Aug. 9th, 2008 12:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
coraaThis isn't a recipe so much as a list of ingredients. It's one of those things that really shouldn't be attempted except with fresh summer tomatoes. (There are a whole bunch of tomato sauces that can be made in winter. This just isn't one of them.) But right now, when the tomatoes are ripe and available and perfect, it's really good. (Assuming you like fresh tomatoes.)
It's also dead easy, and requires almost no actual cooking (just the pasta itself), so it's great if you're feeling lazy and/or the kitchen is really hot.
For two dinner-size servings:
* 3 medium to large, fresh, ripe summer tomatoes
* salt
* 1 shallot (or a couple of green onions, or about a quarter of a medium red onion)
* 2 cloves garlic
* fresh-ground black pepper
* decent olive oil (optional)
* 1/2 lb pasta (ideally a short, chunky pasta -- penne and rotini work well, and it's also a great use for some of the interesting and unusual shapes)
Start the water boiling for the pasta.
Coarsely chop the tomatoes -- you want nice bite-size chunks of tomato. I don't bother peeling or seeding them, and in fact seeding them would remove a lot of the tasty tomato liquid, so in this case laziness is a virtue. Put them in a bowl and sprinkle with salt. (I just eyeball it, but I'd say a half-teaspoon to a teaspoon, depending on the size of your tomatoes. Feel free to salt a little and taste -- salt does a lot for the flavor of tomatoes, so you'll notice a change straight off.) Toss to coat and let sit.
Mince the shallot as finely as you have patience for. If it's a small shallot, mince two. One green onion, or a small amount of red onion, will also work. (Yellow or white onion might work, but it's going to be left raw in this dish, and I'm afraid it'd get too harsh. If you go with it, use a very little, and mince it very fine.) Toss with the tomatoes.
Mince the garlic as finely as you have patience for, too, and toss with the tomatoes. If you're not a garlic fiend like me, one clove will probably be enough.
Grind some pepper into the tomatoes, too, to taste, and splash with a very little bit -- maybe half a tablespoon -- of decent-quality olive oil. The olive oil is optional, but it does bring everything together nicely. The ingredients will marinate very briefly while the pasta cooks.
When the water boils, put in your pasta, and cook until as done as you like. Drain, put back in the pot, and add the tomato mixture -- but don't put back on the heat. You want the residual heat from the pasta to warm the tomatoes, shallots and garlic, but you don't want to cook them. They should basically all be raw, but warm.
Serve.
It's also dead easy, and requires almost no actual cooking (just the pasta itself), so it's great if you're feeling lazy and/or the kitchen is really hot.
For two dinner-size servings:
* 3 medium to large, fresh, ripe summer tomatoes
* salt
* 1 shallot (or a couple of green onions, or about a quarter of a medium red onion)
* 2 cloves garlic
* fresh-ground black pepper
* decent olive oil (optional)
* 1/2 lb pasta (ideally a short, chunky pasta -- penne and rotini work well, and it's also a great use for some of the interesting and unusual shapes)
Start the water boiling for the pasta.
Coarsely chop the tomatoes -- you want nice bite-size chunks of tomato. I don't bother peeling or seeding them, and in fact seeding them would remove a lot of the tasty tomato liquid, so in this case laziness is a virtue. Put them in a bowl and sprinkle with salt. (I just eyeball it, but I'd say a half-teaspoon to a teaspoon, depending on the size of your tomatoes. Feel free to salt a little and taste -- salt does a lot for the flavor of tomatoes, so you'll notice a change straight off.) Toss to coat and let sit.
Mince the shallot as finely as you have patience for. If it's a small shallot, mince two. One green onion, or a small amount of red onion, will also work. (Yellow or white onion might work, but it's going to be left raw in this dish, and I'm afraid it'd get too harsh. If you go with it, use a very little, and mince it very fine.) Toss with the tomatoes.
Mince the garlic as finely as you have patience for, too, and toss with the tomatoes. If you're not a garlic fiend like me, one clove will probably be enough.
Grind some pepper into the tomatoes, too, to taste, and splash with a very little bit -- maybe half a tablespoon -- of decent-quality olive oil. The olive oil is optional, but it does bring everything together nicely. The ingredients will marinate very briefly while the pasta cooks.
When the water boils, put in your pasta, and cook until as done as you like. Drain, put back in the pot, and add the tomato mixture -- but don't put back on the heat. You want the residual heat from the pasta to warm the tomatoes, shallots and garlic, but you don't want to cook them. They should basically all be raw, but warm.
Serve.