Pasta Primavera

As you might have noticed, Tuesday is pasta day. At least while we get these wonderful tomatoes in the Grant Farms CSA box! This week we got lettuce, baby lettuce, kale, cipollini onions, eggplant, cucumber, squash, parsley, basil, corn, potatoes, tomatoes, peas and maybe more.

It’s been more than 25 years I found this recipe in a magazine back in Brazil and everybody in the family still makes it. The flavors are intense but still the dish is simple and very refreshing. You can serve it with a steak or grilled chicken breast. I prefer it solo.

Mi’s Pasta Primavera

4 Servings

Ingredients

4 large or 8 medium tomatoes


4 large cloves garlic


6 - 10 large basil leaves


1 teaspoon kosher salt


Fresh ground black pepper


1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil


8 oz spaghetti or linguini

Directions 

Prepare tomatoes (see below). If you are in a hurry, there is no harm in using chopped whole tomatoes. Peel garlic cloves, smash them slightly with the knife and add to tomatoes. Add salt and pepper. Stir in olive oil. Cover and let rest at room temperature for 2 to 3 hours.

Cook pasta according to package instructions. I used whole wheat linguini.

Remove garlic from tomato sauce. Add pasta to tomato sauce while pasta is hot. Toss well. Tear basil leaves and add to pasta. Toss.

How to prepare the tomatoes

Place a saucepan 3/4 full of water over high heat and bring to a boil. Dip tomatoes that need to be peeled in the boiling water for 1 minute. Remove tomatoes and set aside to cool enough so that you can handle them. Gently pierce, just barely, the skin of the tomatoes with the tip of a sharp knife. Loosen the skin with the knife and peel away. Repeat with all the tomatoes. Cut peeled tomatoes in half lengthwise. Hold tomato half in your hand over a small bowl. Gently squeeze tomato half so that seeds drip into the bowl. Coarsely chop the tomatoes and put them in a big bowl. Put the seeds and their juice through a strainer, save the juice for another recipe.