Raw Garlic Tomato Sauce for Pasta – Perfect Summer Eating!

This recipe is all about good tomatoes – make this before they’re ripe, local and luscious and you won’t get what’s special here – wait until they appear at your farmers' market before preparing thisever so easy dish and you’ll understand!

This is the epitome of easy cooking, (since there is basically no cooking here). It’s a technique I gleaned from the great food community site egullet, a technique originally published in the New York Times, apparently – and one used by savvy home cooks for who knows how long.

No Cook Garlicky Summer Tomato and Basil Pasta Sauce

• A couple of pounds of just picked local tomatoes – doesn’t really matter what variety, as long as they smell GREAT
• About a half cup of extra virgin olive oil
• 2 or 3 cloves of garlic
• ¼ cup or so of fresh basil
• Pasta
• Salt

Instructions

1. In the morning, mince the garlic and add it to the olive oil in a largish bowl. Let this sit on the counter until after lunch.
2. After you have your lunch, grab the tomatoes (or better yet, go back to your garden and pick some!) and cut them up into rough largish bite sized chunks – and toss these all into the bowl of olive oil and garlic. Don’t worry about peeling or seeding or anything like that – this is rustic and simple cooking!
3. Sprinkle this mixture with a bit of salt and then leave it to steep on the counter until dinner time.
4. For dinner, boil up some fettuccine, linguine, spaghetti or other longish pasta noodle and when cooked, toss with the tomato mixture.
5. When the pasta is well coated in the tomato (sauce) taste for seasoning and add more salt if needed.
6. Serve plates of pasta topped with torn fresh basil – and with freshly grated parmesan cheese on the side for those who need/want it.

Simple, easy – a fresh taste of summer – to be enjoyed only at the height of the season!