This recipe brings back beautiful memories from my first visit in Italy, where I tried a pasta made of fresh tomatoes for the first time while sitting in the beautiful Sicilian sun. It was a huge shock for me that such a simple dish can taste so amazing! The sweetness of tomatoes, the saltiness of Parmesan and the wonderful aroma of fresh basil… just perfect combination!

How to choose the right ingredients for this recipe?

The quality of the ingredients is the key to the amazing taste of this simple dish! Large vine tomatoes will be the best as they have sweet and juicy freshness. You need to look for really big, red and ripe tomatoes, it will make a huge difference in taste! The next really important ingredient is parmesan. You need to find a true parmesan cheese, ideally in your local Italian store. Make sure you will buy Parmigiano-Reggiano parmesan as any other simply cannot beat its authentic taste! The last, but not least is basil. You need to buy a fresh basil plant as dried basil herb won’t have this amazing aroma. You need to also remember that fresh basil looses its aroma quickly when heated. That’s why the basil leaves need to be added whole 60 seconds before finishing cooking a sauce.

Once you have all the ingredients it’s time to start preparing your super quick lunch. Start from boiling water for your pasta. Rigatoni or penne pasta will work best. Watch the cooking time carefully, you want your pasta to be al dente. In the meantime, cut fresh tomatoes in half, put in the large bowl and pour boiling water so that it covers all the tomatoes. Leave them in water for about 5 minutes. Then cut onion and garlic into small pieces and put in the pot with olive oil. Fry on very low heat. Then remove tomatoes from water, peel the skin, remove seeds and cut into smaller pieces. Add to the pot and fry with onion and garlic on medium heat for about 5 minutes. 60 seconds before the end, add basil leaves. Blend until smooth, then add cooked pasta and mix with a sauce. Put into bowls and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Now it’s time to imagine that you sitting in lovely restaurant in a small Italian village, warmed by the rays of the afternoon sun. Taste amazing, right? 🙂

Perfect fresh tomato pasta

Course: LunchCuisine: ItalianDifficulty: Easy

Servings

servings

Prep time

minutes

Cooking time

minutes

Ingredients

150 g penne or rigatoni pasta
3 large vine tomatoes (or 6 smaller)
1/2 onion
1 clove of garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
4 fresh basil leaves
2 tbsp of freshly grated parmesan cheese
salt, pepper

Directions

Boil pasta in salted water until al dente. It takes usually about 8-9 minutes.
Cut tomatoes in half, put in a large bowl and cover with boiling water. Leave for 5 minutes.
Cut onion and garlic into small pieces, then add with olive oil into the small pot and fry on very low heat. Onion need to be soften, but not brown.
Remove tomatoes from hot water, peel the skin, remove seeds and cut flash into smaller pieces. Add to the pot.
Cook everything for about 5 minutes on medium heat, stirring constantly.
Add salt and pepper according to your preference.
At the end of cooking the sauce, add fresh basil leaves.
Blend into smooth sauce using hand blender. Then add cooked pasta and mix with sauce.
Put into small bowls and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Enjoy!

Notes

Use large vine tomatoes and authentic parmesan cheese to achieve the best taste.
Do not burn onion and garlic, they need to be soften but not brown.

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Perfect Fresh Tomato Pasta