Summer tomatoes, part III

To a New Yorker with an Italian heritage, Caprese Salad may be the highest and best use of ripe summer tomatoes, but that's not the case here in the South, y'all. Many Southerners swear by the tomato sandwich, by which they mean ripe tomatoes between two slices of (untoasted) white bread slathered with Duke's Mayonnaise. Mmmmm, doesn't that sound tasty? And they can get pretty damn feisty if you try to fancy it up beyond that. With regard to the white bread, for example, one writer, in an article titled "The best sandwich in the universe," warns that "[y]ou must not make this bread, nor should the word 'artisanal' be uttered within 100 paces of it. You must purchase this bread and the word 'crappy' must be at least somewhat applicable to it." Aren't you glad I learned to cook from a woman who was raised in southern Italy and not the southern U.S.?

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So here is yet another quick pasta option. I wouldn't have bothered posting this, but Cassie says it's better than the standard Quick Tomato Sauce I sometimes use to dress pasta, especially when making Baked Ziti. The Quick Tomato Sauce is made with canned crushed tomatoes, so you can make it with consistent results year-round, while this one requires ripe summer tomatoes, which I got from my friend Elena at the City Market. How can you go wrong with Roma tomatoes grown by a woman born and raised in Italy?

Two pounds of perfectly ripe heirloom summer tomatoes

Pasta with Fresh Tomato Sauce

(Pasta Pomodoro)

Adapted from Cook’s Country (Aug/Sept 2017)

Time: 33 minutes

2 pounds ripe tomatoes
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
2 medium garlic cloves, thinly sliced, minced, pressed, or grated on a Microplane
¾ teaspoon fine sea salt, plus 1 to 2 tablespoons
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ teaspoon sugar, optional
1 pound penne or fusilli or other pasta
2 tablespoons chiffonade of fresh basil
Grated Parmesan or pecorino Romano cheese, for serving

    1. Bring 4 quarts of water to a roiling boil in a large pot.
    2. Meanwhile, core the tomatoes, then cut them into ½-inch pieces.
    3. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil and the garlic in a 12-inch skillet or sauté pan over medium heat just until the garlic is fragrant (don’t burn it). Stir in the tomatoes, ¾ teaspoon salt, pepper, and sugar. Increase the heat a notch or two and cook until the tomato pieces are broken down and the tomato liquid has reduced considerably, about 10 to 15 minutes depending on how juicy your tomatoes are. Turn the heat down to low once the tomato mixture is reduced down to a chunky sauce.
    4. A minute or two after you add the tomatoes to the skillet, stir the 1 to 2 tablespoons salt into the boiling water until it’s dissolved. Add the pasta and stir a few times during the first minute or two to keep it from sticking. Cook until al dente. Drain, reserving a mugful of the pasta cooking water.
    5. Stir the drained pasta into the tomato sauce, along with the basil and the remaining tablespoon of the olive oil. Add pasta cooking water as needed to adjust the consistency (you probably won’t need any). Taste for salt and pepper. Serve with grated cheese. Serves 4.

Pasta with Spicy Fresh Tomato Sauce
In step 2, heat up to ¾ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (to taste) with the oil and garlic.