Saucy goodness

In lieu of writing about something heady, I thought I'd share a tasty recipe.

I don't know about you, but our tomatoes are going gangbusters. I made this fresh pasta sauce last weekend and was not disappointed! Alas, I did not take any photos of it because we yummed it up before it occurred to me. (The photo at left is from Kitchen Confidante.)

I used the recipe from Diana Rattray in About.com's Southern Food section.

My tweaks to the recipe are in red below.


Ingredients:

1 to 1½ pounds ripe tomatoes; about 3 large tomatoes (I used two extra-large Brandywine heirloom tomatoes and a handful of Sweet Baby Girl cherry tomatoes)
2-3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
3 tablespoons olive oil
¼ cup chopped fresh basil
diced onion (or onion flakes)
½-1+ teaspoon salt, or to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 pound whole grain spaghetti
freshly grated Parmesan cheese for serving

Preparation:

If desired, peel tomatoes (I did); remove seeds, straining juice into a bowl. Save the juice and discard seeds. In a food processor, combine garlic, tomatoes with juice, olive oil, basil, and onion. Pulse quickly to chop roughly. Pulse more for a smoother sauce, if desired. Transfer to a bowl, add salt and pepper and let stand to marinate for about 20 minutes (I did not transfer to a bowl; I just let mine marinate in the Cuisinart).

Cook pasta until just tender, drain and toss hot with the marinated tomato sauce. If hotter spaghetti is desired, heat the sauce just until hot on stovetop or in microwave (I recommend doing this). Serve immediately topped with Parmesan cheese.

Serves 4 to 6. 

Buon appetito!