The perfect blend of hot and cold.
Like a perfectly made Old Fashioned, pasta puttanesca relies on simple ingredients properly prepared. This is the high point of our weeknight summer dining on the farm.
Ingredients:
- A couple of very ripe tomatoes (preferably just picked)
- 4-8 cloves of garlic
- 15-25 leaves of basil
- Olive oil
- Coarse salt
- Fresh ground pepper
- Pasta: either shell, bowtie, or penne
Steps:
- All in the same bowl: chop the tomatoes, chop your garlic, shred the basil, add coarse salt, then grind your pepper until your arm grows tired. Add about half-a-cup olive oil, gently mix. Stick the bowl into the fridge for two hours.
- Boil the pasta, drain, put in the serving bowl. Pour the cold ingredients over the hot pasta and toss.
Eat at once. Giuliano Bugialli admonishes you to not add cheese. I agree. Enjoy. I suggest a glass or two of red wine to wash it down.
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Reading tonight: The Fine Art of Italian Cooking (G. Bugialli)
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Sounds pretty good. Our favorite use of just picked vine ripe tomatoes is a salad made much like your description here, but with a fine vinegar in equal proportion to the olive oil. We do go with a cheese – usually a nice Mozzarella and have rarely gone with the pasta. Will have to remedy the pasta omission with the next installment.
It is a good time of the year. We seem to have a simple salad most nights of just tomatoes, cucumbers, salt, and fresh ground pepper. Nothing else needed but a fork.
Cheers,