There’s a farmer’s market a few blocks from my house that I try to peruse every chance I get. The market spans a solid 4 city blocks and has everything from plants, to cheese, to ostrich eggs. The fruit and vegetables at this market are always so fresh and mouthwatering. I spotted the most beautiful tomatoes a while back when I was leisurely weaving in and out of the booths. They were a mix of red, yellow, green, brown, striped… Their bright colors just screamed summer!
Now, if you’ve been keeping up with my blog, you’ll remember that every few months my friend and I host a supper club. The menu and attendees are always changing. Our most recent dinner we decided to keep the menu in season. In addition to summer fruit (like we used with our watermelon mint ice cream—Yum!), we were trying to include summer veggies as well. I immediately knew that our next supper club had to include these juicy tomatoes I saw at my farmer’s market! So, we decided to incorporate these little gems into our menu by way of a pasta sauce.
Now typically, pasta with tomato sauce doesn’t really make me think of summer. Mainly because anytime I have ever eaten pasta I do NOT want to be associated with the bathing suits, shorts, and teeny tank tops that generally accompany this season. So instead of going the route of a heavy marinara sauce, we decided we would keep the tomatoes relatively intact, making it a lighter tomato based sauce (instead of the one that makes you wanna unbutton your pants!).
Yields: 2 servings
Prep Time: 5 minutes | Cook Time: 25 minutes | Total Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
½ onion, diced
2 mushrooms, diced
2 pints of colored tomatoes, halved
pinch of salt
pinch of red pepper flakes
¼ tsp oregano
¼ tsp basil
¼ tsp crushed bay leaves
4 oz pasta (I used buccatini)
1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
2. Meanwhile, cook oil and garlic over medium heat until fragrant.
3. Add onion, mushrooms, tomatoes, and spices. Allow to reduce X ~15-20 minutes (until the tomatoes start to break down).
4. While the sauce reduces, add pasta to boiling water. Cook pasta to al dente per package instructions (my buccatini took ~9 minutes).
5. Prior to draining pasta, reserve ¼ cup pasta water. Add to tomato sauce a little at a time until it starts to thicken.
6. Drain pasta and add to tomato sauce, mixing for a few minutes over medium heat.
The Cook’s 2 Cents:
· When adding the tomatoes to the pan, don’t forget to salt them! This will help the water content to be released, allowing your sauce to reduce more.
· Adding both the pasta water and the pasta to the sauce helps to thcken the sauce instead of leaving it runny and watery. The starch from the water helps the sauce to stick to the noodles. And when you add the pasta to the sauce, it ensures an even coating.
· Prior to adding pasta, give you sauce a “once-over.” You’ll probably find that some of the skins have come off of the tomatoes. I pick them out because honestly, when the skins are attached to the tomatoes you really don’t even notice them. But who wants to bite into random tomato skins without the yummy tomato juices?
Nutrition Facts:
Servings Per Recipe: 2
Calories: 354 Fat: 9g Sodium: 256mg Carbs: 54g Fiber: 18g Sugars: 25g Protein: 9g
