Thursday 27 September 2007

Pasta with a Cherry Tomato Sauce

What can you do when you're saddled with more garden-grown tomatoes than you can really eat? A lot of things, probably, but I'm wasn't all that creative today (and I made a tomato salad last night for dinner), so I made a tomato sauce with them. It's simple, it's tasty, and it uses a lot of tomatoes.

The recipe:

Beer
Cherry tomatoes
Regular tomatoes
Tomato paste
Onions
Garlic
Various herbs and spices (I used oregano, basil, and chili flakes)

First, open the beer and begin drinking it. Chop the onion and garlic and brown them in a pan. Coarsely chop up the regular tomato and add it to the pan. Add in the tomato paste and some water, allow to simmer for a while. Add herbs and season to taste. Once the sauce has thickened, transfer it to a blender or food processor and blend it until it's sort of smooth. Transfer this into a saucepan and add the cherry tomatoes. Allow this to simmer for a while. The cherry tomatoes will soften and burst. Serve with parmesan over pasta. We used a fresh vegetable pasta from a local fruiterie and it was delicious, but any pasta will do.

What is healthy about this recipe: Pretty much everything.

What is seasonal about this recipe: Again, pretty much everything.

What I learned from this recipe: The beer ingredient is pretty much key in all recipes.

What I will change next time: Anna and I debated over whether or not the tomato paste was necessary (she makes it without the paste) or whether or not it's worth blending the sauce. She's probably right in that it makes the recipe a little bit more complicated, but it's worth the extra few seconds effort if you prefer your sauce smoother.

Starting the sauce.

The sauce is almost ready.