Pasta with No-Cook Tomato Sauce
Hellooooo! I’m baaaaack! I hope that everyone thoroughly enjoyed this summer of transition and trepidation. Moving from anti-social to social with the fear that the rug would be pulled out from under us at any time, certainly kept things interesting. Despite a newfound social awkwardness, I did my best to embrace the freedom and enjoy time connecting with friends and strangers. Just talking to someone at a checkout counter was something to treasure.
For me, the desire to be out and about resulted in very little cooking and creating. Dinner at home was much more throwing things together, as opposed to exploring new recipes. I was lazy in the kitchen and loving it. With an abundance of gorgeous produce at farm stands, its been easy to do very little.
This recipe is the perfect combo of winging it with direction. It makes use of the super ripe summer tomatoes that are begging to be enjoyed at this very minute (choose ones that are heavy like water balloons, literally bursting with flavor) and turning on your stove only to boil the pasta. Speaking of pasta, the recipe calls for any long strand variety. I happened to have a beautiful bag of squid ink spaghetti and chose to use that for the first go, but the more typical varieties are what the recipe intended and work perfectly (as I discovered the second, third and fourth times that I made this recipe).
The only adaptation I made to the original Pasta with No-Cook Tomato Sauce from Bon Appetit was that I adjusted ingredients to make a pound of pasta because it bugs me when recipes call for less (who wants 1/4 of a box of pasta left sitting in their pantry?). Other than that, it’s perfection. End of summer in a bowl. I will be making this again and again until the tomatoes are no more.
Here’s to a great (school) year, to all those who celebrate! Enjoy!
Pasta with No-Cook Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 lb tomatoes, any shape (larger than cherry) preferably slightly overripe so they feel like full water balloons
- 1 garlic clove
- 2 Tbls unsalted butter cut into small pieces
- 5 tsp red wine vinegar
- 1/2-1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 1/4 c extra-virgin olive oil plus more for drizzling
- 4 oz finely grated Parmesan (about 1 cup) divided
- Kosher salt
- 1 lb strand pasta such as bucatini, spaghetti, or linguini
- 1 c basil leaves torn
Instructions
- Cut tomatoes in half through the equator (across the midline). Hold halves in your palms and gently squeeze over the sink to remove seeds and surrounding juice/jelly.
- Casually and imperfectly chop seeded tomatoes so you have some pieces that are very small and some pieces that are a bit larger, but everything should be smaller than an acorn.
- Transfer tomatoes to a large bowl and mash mixture several times with the back of a large spoon or potato masher to release more juices (you can also just use your hands).
- Finely grate garlic into bowl with tomatoes with a microplane or fine grater, then add butter, vinegar, red pepper, oil, and half the Parmesan. Season with several pinches of salt, then toss with a large spoon to combine.
- Cover bowl with plastic and let sit at room temperature at least 30 minutes and up to 5 hours. This lets the flavors marry and tomato juices exude (because we want a saucy pasta).
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add a small fistful of salt. Cook pasta until al dente (follow package instructions).
- As soon as pasta is ready, drain and transfer noodles to bowl with tomatoes and TOSS TOSS TOSS. You want the hot pasta to melt the cheese and butter, which will thicken the sauce.
- Taste pasta and season with more salt, if needed, then toss in basil.
- Using tongs, portion pasta into shallow bowls, then spoon remaining tomatoes and juices over.
- Top with remaining Parmesan, then drizzle with oil. Serve.