Today there is a really simple but delicious summer dish on the blog – pasta with tomato sauce with fresh tomatoes, chilli, garlic, basil and parmesan. It is from my cookbook Meatless Friday. I must honestly admit that the recipe here had ended up in oblivion for me. That was until a reader recently reported that this particular dish was often on the menu at their home.
In recent years, I have developed many, many recipes. More than I can count. The advantage of the many recipes is that they become both easier to make and better with experience. The downside is that many dishes are only made once or rarely at my house because I am always on the way to something new. One of them is the dish here, and that is a shame. First of all, it tastes really nice. That is always the most important thing. However, it should also be mentioned that it is also easy to make, while at the same time there is room for it in even the tightest household budget. So there are many good reasons to put it on the table.
The perfect pasta with tomato sauce
The recipe naturally fits perfectly on the menu of those who want to reduce meat consumption. However, if it is difficult to do without, you can always serve some small Italian meatballs.
When a dish is as simple as this, it’s important to choose the best ingredients that the budget allows. Tomatoes are in season right now, so on that front, it’s not that difficult at all. Feel free to use several different tomatoes, such as plum and cherry tomatoes, and cut them according to size. Cherry tomatoes simply need to be halved, while plum tomatoes are quartered. Also, as far as possible, choose the best tomato passata you can get your hands on. If you can’t find tomato passata, which are pureed tomatoes (typically) sold in glass, then you can use canned chopped tomatoes instead.
Ingredients
300 g linguine
500 g small tomatoes
1 chilli pepper
1 bunch basil
1 small onion
2 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. butter
2.5 dl tomato passata
50 ml cream
1 pinch of sugar
Lemon juice
Parmesan
Salt, pepper
Basil Pesto :
50 grams of fresh basil
50 ml of olive oil
10 grams of Parmesan Cheese
1 gram of garlic
5 grams of pinenuts
Parmesan Crackers:
Combine grated parmesan and a slight amount of flour and bake it at 180*C for 3 to 4 minutes.
Prep:
Combine all the ingredients in a blender and make it a thick puree.
Pasta Prep:
- Cook the pasta in lightly salted water until al dente.
- Cut tomatoes into a suitable size, chop the chilli pepper and pick the basil leaves. Peel and chop the onion and garlic. Heat the oil and butter in a large pan and sauté the onion, garlic and chilli for a few minutes without colouring. Add tomatoes, continue to sauté for two minutes and add the tomato passata, cooking water from the pasta and cream. Season with sugar, lemon juice, salt and pepper, and stir in the pasta and basil leaves.
- Add pesto as per your taste
- Serve with generous amounts of parmesan.
