Delicious Tomato Basil Pasta

We only had a few grape tomatoes but we had a bunch of small tomatoes from our garden and decided they should work in this recipe and we had a giant plant of fresh basil to use so we opted to make Chef Dennis’ Tomato Basil Pasta from his “Ask Chef Dennis” blog.  Since I prefer shaped pasta with chunky sauces, I used the box of penne we had on hand.

Tomato Basil Pasta

Ingredients:

1 lb pasta

4 tablespoon olive oil

4 tablespoon garlic cloves finely chopped

½ teaspoon red pepper flakes (We added to our own dish)

5 cups cherry tomatoes cut in half (Note 2)

1 teaspoon table salt more or less to taste

¼ teaspoon black pepper more or less to taste

6 tablespoon chopped fresh basil leaves – more or less to taste

4 tablespoon grated Romano cheese for serving (note 1)

Notes: 

1.    For recipes using large amounts of grated cheese, we keep a bowl of this in the fridge after grating in the food processor and it’s currently this blend.

2. I used about a half cup of grape tomatoes and the remainder in chopped tomatoes.

Instructions:

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, then add the pasta. Cook the pasta al dente according to package directions.

*When you drain the pasta make sure to reserve 1 cup of pasta water to add to the tomato sauce if needed (Larry’s did not).

2. While the pasta is cooking add the olive oil to a large skillet over medium heat. When the oil is hot add the garlic and red pepper flakes to the pan, and cook for one minute until the garlic is fragrant.

3. Add the tomatoes, salt, and black pepper to the pan.

4. Increase the heat to medium-high and let the tomatoes cook for 6-7 minutes. The tomatoes will burst and will start to stick to the bottom of the pan as the juices cook off.

6. Add the chopped basil to the tomatoes and mix into the mixture. Remove from the heat until the pasta is finished cooking.

You will need some of the pasta water to thin out the sauce.

8. When the pasta is finished cooking, drain the pasta and add back to the pot.

Add the sauce and cheese and toss until well combined. Add more pasta water to the pan if needed and let it cook for another minute to fully heat the dish.

9. Remove from the heat. plate and serve with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, more grated cheese, and chopped basil.

The Verdict:

This was one of the better pasta dishes I’ve ever eaten because I loved the fresh tomato flavor - a perfect late summer dish.  Since we used chopped tomatoes, the sauce was a little thin (no pasta water added) but the addition of grated cheese helped thicken it.  Then we added more cheese to our dishes.  I don’t know how it would be using the chef’s cherry tomatoes, but I will make it like this again - Bev still prefers marinara.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

9/7/23 meal date