Fresh tomato pasta – best with late summer tomatoes, marinated with chilli, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, lots of basil and parmesan. Jump to Recipe
First week down of university for 2015! Slightly hectic, yes, but also have been loving getting back into college life, studying, and the Melbourne brunch scene (first review coming soon… watch this space). Although college is exactly what I need this year, being a five minute walk from lectures, having friends around all the time and with food mostly taken care of, speaking to people from the year above who moved out at the end of last year has me really looking forward to doing the same. Just being able to do things on my timetable, choose and cook my own food and have my own space (mostly, anyway) will be a lot more freedom and independence (adulthood is looming!). Anyway, my point is that this Fresh Tomato Pasta is something that I would make if I was flatting. And if I wasn’t flatting, too. Anytime, actually. I even made a variation of it last night for dinner (the one night that it isn’t supplied here).
Fresh vine-ripened tomatoes are combined with lemon, olive oil, salt, garlic and a bit of chilli, and served on piping hot fresh spaghetti topped with basil, grated parmesan, and coarsely ground pepper: a no-fuss, inexpensive meal perfect for tomato season.
To reduce the pasta load a bit and increase the vegetable quota, you can replace some of the spaghetti with zucchini noodles, or ‘zoodles’. I only discovered these recently and have been loving them – the contrasting textures and colour in the pasta is also a bonus! Ideally, you would use a spiralizer to make the zucchini into thin spaghetti style strips, but, not owning one of these myself (though I would love to – don’t they just look awesome?!), I normally use a julienne vegetable peeler. Last night I found myself without either and just sliced the zucchini into the thinnest strips I could which also worked as a last ditch solution. I then add the zucchini into the pot of boiling pasta in the last minute of cooking so they aren’t completely raw – but don’t leave them in too long since you don’t want soggy zucchini either.
You can serve this dish with whatever you like, but I have found that panko crumbed fish (gurnard or tarakihi usually) or barbecued chicken thighs with olive oil, salt and pepper both work particularly well. Grilled vegetables like eggplant, zucchini, or capsicum are another great addition, as is fresh cobs of corn when they are available (remove the husk and boil for 5 minutes to just cook through).
- 1 kg vine-ripened tomatoes
- About 1 teaspoon freshly ground sea salt (I don’t measure this exactly).
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 lemon , juice and zest of
- 2 cloves garlic , crushed
- 1 small mild red chilli , deseeded and finely chopped (or more/less to suit your taste)
- freshly ground black pepper
- 400 g fresh spaghetti
- 1 cup lightly packed basil leaves , torn
- freshly grated parmesan cheese , to serve
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Put a full kettle on to boil. Score a cross in the base of each tomato and place in a large bowl. Pour the boiling water over them. Drain after 30 seconds or when you can start to see the edges around the cross peeling up. Peel the skin off the tomatoes.
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Halve each tomato and scoop out the seeds, juice and any tough pith in the centre. Sometimes you can press the halved tomato together to do this, or just use a small paring knife and your fingers. Roughly chop and place in a sieve over a bowl. Sprinkle over the salt and leave to drain for half an hour.
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Transfer the roughly chopped tomatoes into a larger bowl and add the olive oil, red wine vinegar, garlic, lemon, chilli, and some ground black pepper to taste. Leave for 20-30 minutes for the flavours to combine.
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Meanwhile, put a large bot of water on to cook the pasta. When ready to serve, cook the pasta according to packet instructions and add the basil to the tomatoes. Divide the pasta and tomato sauce between the bowls and serve with the grated parmesan.
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You can also serve this with panko crumbed fish or barbecue chicken thighs, grilled vegetables and/or crusty bread (see above).
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