*oh look, my tomatoes from last summer! Yes, that's my picture. I ate that orange one about two seconds after snapping this photo.
I've been feeling a little uninspired in the kitchen lately. My hubby has been out of town a lot, and it's hard to get back into "cooking for one" mode. Then again, last week I made that amazing, incredible cauliflower casserole... and that thing was inspired, man.
Anyway. The point is, when I got home tonight I had a few leftovers and absolutely no ambition whatsoever to make anything fancy, but I was craving pasta badly. Cue the carb-fest!
I adapted this recipe from my Simply Shrimply Spicy Pasta. You can, and probably will, adapt it to suit your taste and the contents of your fridge. My one regret tonight is that I didn't have any soft cheese to add to this in globs... ricotta or even goat cheese would have been welcome.
What you need:
1 28oz can of diced tomatoes (I am still using Meijer's "organic" petite diced ones.)
2 T olive oil
1 T butter
1 clove garlic (or 1 tsp of minced from the fridge, ya'll)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper, or to taste
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
+EITHER:
1 1/2 tsp dry basil
OR:
2 tsp minced fresh basil (or more? I LOVE basil...)
OR:
2 tsp Italian seasoning
Garnish: Fresh-grated Parmesan cheese, to taste
What you do:
If you're going to eat this now, start your water boiling first and get your pasta going. You'll want the pasta to be finished around the same time as the sauce. Tonight, I used elbow macaroni.
Set your skillet on medium and put the olive oil in to heat.
Add the butter.
Once the butter melts, add the garlic and stir slightly. Let the garlic soften but don't brown it.
Add the whole can of tomatoes, juices and all. Add all the spices. Stir together well.
Let simmer for 5-8 minutes, until the sauce thickens slightly. Using a potato masher or some other method of your choosing, mash your tomatoes to a consistency you want to eat. If you like big chunks of tomato, don't mash. I prefer a more blended sauce, personally.
You should probably be ready to drain your pasta by now... please do. I'll wait.
Turn off the heat under your sauce, then toss your pasta into the skillet and stir it all up. The sauce probably won't coat the pasta very well but you still want to marry them together as much as you can.
Serve, preferably with Parmesan cheese all melty and gooey on top.
Seriously, this takes a total of maybe 10 minutes to do if you've got everything handy.
