Lusty tomato pasta

When in doubt, and in tomato season, you will find me in the kitchen making this dish.

Especially if any of the following situations are at play:

• It's hot out. Like, so hot you can't imagine turning on an oven or even whispering the words, blow dryer.
• The tomato plants are producing at a rate unequaled in all of plantdom.
• I only have a few minutes to make dinner and even fewer brain cells with which to craft it.
• I don't have much in the way of fresh meat, so it's pantry staples + garden produce or nothing.

The crucial EXTRA important key to this dish - to making it a dish that you will come back to when you're hot, sweaty, starved and not prepared to think your way through a complicated recipe - is the bowl treatment.

The what?

Yes, the treatment you give your bowl (a good sized glass bowl works best) with the cut side of a garlic clove is the key to a dish that will have you drinking the juices straight, before you even get to the whole "dinner" part of things.

Or, if you're me, you'll pour yourself a little glass of this liquid delight while the mixture is getting all lusty and you'll drink it right there with a little basil garnish because that totally makes sense in the heat of the moment.

And believe me, when you're making this, heat is almost certainly involved.

So, next time it's hot, you're starved for something great and your garden's pumping out tomatoes and basil at a terrifying rate - here you go.

Lusty Tomato Pasta

Adapted from The Splendid Table's recipe for Mellowed Fresh Tomatoes for Pasta

My changes in bold

Ingredients
2 tomatoes per person, chopped
1/2 pound whole wheat spaghetti
1 bunch of fresh basil, rinsed and ripped
2 garlic cloves, papers removed, halved
3 T olive oil 
1 T sea salt
1 t cayenne pepper
1/2 t fresh ground black pepper

To make
Rub down the inside of a glass bowl with the cut sides of the garlic cloves until it's completely coated. Leave the garlic in the bowl and add the tomatoes,  peppers, salt and oil. Stir completely, being sure to drag the mixture around the sides of the bowl to completely incorporate the garlic's juices.

Throw in the basil, give it a final stir and then let it rest while you boil the pasta.

When the pasta's almost al dente (slightly uncooked in the center when you bite into it), drain it and immediately toss it with the tomato mixture, being sure to get the pasta down to the juices waiting at the bottom of the bowl.

Let the pasta mingle with the tomato mixture for a few minutes, tasting the juices and adding salt and pepper to your own taste. 

Serve with some fresh basil on top and some toasted garlic bread on the side. Otherwise be prepared for your diners to drink from the bowl, which isn't the worst thing that's ever happened.