This simple, fresh pasta dish is just the thing for a warm monsoon-studded night… or a cold winter’s evening, too, I’m sure. In fact it is so good you’ll want to have it often, no matter the weather. Kim has made this a couple of times recently, once on the same day he baked his fabulous country loaf (see previous post Adventures in the Art of Breadmaking by Kim Moss).
It is particularly wonderful served with slices of fresh bread just out of the oven. Adapted from a recipe Kim enjoyed while living in Italy, this sauce is simple and yet surprisingly flavorful.
Kim’s Italian Pasta
Serves two
5 large ripe plum tomatoes (approx. 1 lb)
1 tsp. sea salt, to taste
1 tsp. chili flakes
2 cloves garlic peeled and finely minced
1/4 cup olive oil
A good handful of fresh basil (approx. 8 leaves)
2″ pieces extra creamy brie (optional)
Pasta
The tomatoes form the basis for this sauce so they are very important. Get the freshest, most flavorful available. San Marzano plum tomatoes are very good if you can find them.
Optional: Peel the tomatoes by dropping them in boiling water for about a minute and a half.
Remove from the pan and immerse in cold water.
Cut the ends off and peel.
Cut them in chunks, first quartering them and chopping into 1/2″ pieces
Put the salt in before the oil. It helps the tomatoes release their juices. Add the pepper flakes.
Peel and mince the garlic. Cooking tip: Peel the garlic by pounding the cloves with the flat of a knife blade. Slice, chop a bit and then pound again.
Then mince finely and add to the tomatoes.
Add the olive oil.
Stir very well to begin melding the flavors.
Tear the basil into pieces (chopping can bruise the leaves).
Keep the brie refrigerated until right before cutting it. Remove the rind.
Add approximately 7 2″ pieces of brie into tomato mixture.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for several hours to fully meld the flavors.
Cook your choice of pasta (shells are nice because they hold the sauce) and toss with the marinated sauce.
Love to you all,
Jeane
I LOVE the Brie in with the sauce to meld. YUMMMMMMMMMMM. Belissiomo!
The brie really adds a richness. You can see in the photos how it melds with everything when it’s in the fridge for hours. YUMMMMMMMMM indeed. Let me know if you try it.
I WILL try it, with some gluten free pasta!!!:)
Thanks for sharing…
XOX
Oh GOOD! Tell me how you like it and SEND A PICTURE.
OK:)
🙂
What beautiful food. I have just finished cooking pasta and sat down to eat. I find this making my pasta look like hog slop, but I am content. Mine I can actually eat.
What, do you think we just photographed this? Oh no, no, no, no, no–we ate this heartily sitting out on the deck watching a storm come in over the mountain. You should try it. It’s eminently edible.
Oh I quite believe you. You are not a frivolous sort who would do this just to photograph it, but when you finished it of course deserved a picture. I have never cooked with brie. I will try that. Brie will have trouble getting from my hand to the pan, without stopping at my mouth.
Just buy enough that you can do both (and, yes, pausing for photos is sometimes hard to do. It’s why I love my point-and-shoot so much).
this was superb!
It’s better than it looks, isn’t it Alexandra? And, by the way, I went to your site and really love the art you’re doing–lovely, impressive and inspiring at the same time. For those of you who are curious, go to: alexandraeldridge.com. LOVE her tag line, “imagination… the only real and eternal world…”