Tomato, Tamahto, Let's Call the Whole Thing Off!



Shopping in the backyard

 It is really hot and muggy right now in LA and I don't really feel like heating up my kitchen. I have a couple of raised boxes in my backyard and can grow just enough to excite me on a daily basis. I grow a lot of herbs, plus arugula, corn, pumpkin, zucchini and of course tomatoes. Nothing is more satisfying than grabbing a little of this and a little of that from ones' own backyard and turning it into dinner! This is the simplest, absolute best, freshest, fastest and easiest tomato "sauce" you 'll ever NOT cook!

 
Summer Pasta Sauce
(It's really like Italian salsa)
Chopped up tomatoes ( I used 5 plus some cherry tomatoes)
Minced or chopped garlic( 3 cloves to start with)
Freshly grated parmesan or pecarino romano (no green box please!) I use Pecarino Romano which is a hard sheep's cheese similar to parmesan)
Good quality extra virgin olive oil (I used  1/3 cup)
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper
Fresh basil (cut into a "chiffonade"*) a handful
Toasted pine nuts ( I used 1/4 cup)
A couple of tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
This is all to taste, I don't know how many tomatoes you have or how much you want to make.

Stack, roll, slice finely.

*Chiffonade is one of those fancy French culinary terms that means, "roll all the leaves together into a tight little package and chop really finely". Final word...Taste! Taste! Taste! Try it, judge for yourself. Does it need more garlic, salt, pepper...whatever? Whenever I try out a new recipe or even my old tried and true recipes, I usually hand whomever's handy a spoon and ask them, "Salt? Pepper? Garlic?"


Let everything "macerate"(see "Marinade, Marinate, Macerate" blog for more on that) in a bowl on your counter for a 1/2 hour to an hour. I usually serve it on top of  angel hair pasta or use as a topping for Bruschetta.* (BRUS-SKETTA)




Bruschetta

 This sauce is also delicious on  homemade gorgonzola ravioli, next blog.