Angel Hair Pasta with Fresh Garlic Tomato Sauce

You guys, I’m unreasonably excited about tomato season.

Yesterday, I told you how my mom and sister and I found the most amazing flat of tomatoes out front of a restaurant we stopped at for lunch. It was $10 for easily over 100 cherry tomatoes. I made some awesome goat cheese + tomato + mint bruschetta this past weekend, but I still had a huuuuuuge amount I needed to use up.

I  considered a standard tomato pasta sauce, but I thought that cooking all those beautiful tomatoes would be just short of a travesty—cue a fresh tomato sauce! Whenever I’m looking for recipe inspiration, I hit up Epicurious. I find tons of great stuff there…which I’m sure you guys have noticed if you’ve followed my blog for a while. Anyway, this is based off an Epicurious recipe, and it’s beyond amazing! It totally takes advantage of super fresh and flavorful tomatoes and basil.

This a perfect recipe for hot Summer (or Spring!) days or nights, because the only cooking required is boiling the pasta, which only takes like 4 minutes. It’s easy, it’s quick, it uses very few ingredients, and it’s unbelievably delicious! Don’t even think about making this in Fall or Winter because it ill be flavorless and disappointing. They key is amazing tomatoes.

I also SO recommend serving this with some crusty garlic bread. My little sister, Rebecca, was totally into making spaghetti bruschetta, and I have to say, it was a pretty dang tasty idea.

This is great warm, room temperature, and even cold (though, I do think a trip to the fridge can make the tomatoes lose a bit of flavor). If you need some protein, I think simple sautéed shrimp would be a yummy addition, or possibly a bit of grilled chicken. It’s all about keeping it simple, though, so no super overpowering seasoning on those proteins!

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Angel Hair Pasta with Fresh Garlic Tomato Sauce

Yield: about 5-6 servings

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs tomatoes
• 3-4 garlic cloves + pinch of kosher salt
• juice from 1 lemon
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp granulated sugar
• freshly ground pepper
• 1 lb angel hair (capellini) pasta
• 1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped
• freshly-grated parmigiano reggiano
• extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling

Directions:

1. Coarsely chop 2 pounds of the tomatoes (if they are cherry tomatoes, chop them in quarters or halves).
2. Mash the garlic clover with a pinch of kosher salt, to form a paste.
3. Halve the remaining 1 pound of the tomatoes and rub the cut sides against a grater releasing the pulp/juice; discard the skins.
4. In a medium bowl, combine the pulp, chopped tomatoes, garlic paste, lemon juice, salt, sugar, and pepper. Toss together and let stand for at least an hour, but no longer than 4.
5. Boil the pasta according to the package directions. Toss with the tomato mixture and basil.
6. Serve with grated parmesan and a drizzle of olive oil.

recipe slightly adapted from here