Homemade semolina pasta with a simple fresh tomato sauce make an easy dinner that will please even the pickiest eaters.
A couple months ago Lori over at the Recipe Girl and I were tweeting about simple food that we sometimes forget about. The first one that came to mind for me, is a simple tomato sauce, that I use to make very often when I needed a quick meal after a long day. I have put that conversation and that recipe in the back of mind for an evening when we would need an easy dinner.
We have been traveling for the past three weeks (stop awwwing for us, it was all work) and have been locked in conference rooms where most of our meals have been dried out sandwiches or buffets of fried food and limp veggies. I have been dying to get back in the kitchen and even more so we have been dying for a good meal. I stopped by the market on my way home from work and picked up some Dirty Girl Dry Farmed Tomatoes, a baguette and a bottle of wine. Rest of the meal would be found in the pantry at home.
Some of you may be wondering what dry farmed tomatoes are? I discovered dry farmed tomatoes a couple years ago and have never looked back, in all honesty, I even look forward to these little gems more than their cousins the heirloom tomatoes. Dry farming is a waterless method of growing tomatoes which will only produce about 1/3 as many but the end result is a tomato that is dense and packed with flavor, not to mention the deep red color. As soon as I see the first ones in the markets, I am buying them all the time. At the close of the season, I purchase a big bag of them and freeze them whole. They are a wonderful addition to toss into a sauce, stew or soup.
Now back to dinner …… We got hooked on fresh pasta a couple months ago, after purchasing a pasta machine when we were in Montreal. We used it very often before it gave out on us after the 5 time of using. Finally upgraded last month and purchased the pasta attachments for the KitchenAid, love it! For this meal, I made a simple pasta dough out of some semolina flour, olive oil and organic eggs. While the dough was resting, I combined the tomatoes with lots of fresh garlic and a sprinkle of Maldon salt and then let it do it’s thing, while I rolled pasta. The attachments are so easy to use and you can have fresh pasta in less than an hour, I cannot believe we waited so long before purchasing!
Once the pasta was cooked (and fresh pasta only takes minutes) and drained, I tossed it with handfuls of fresh basil from the garden, a drizzle of olive oil, a generous grind of fresh black pepper and the fresh tomato sauce – Delicious!
Recipe: Homemade Fresh Tomato Sauce
*Pasta Recipe
1 lb fresh tomatoes, used dry farm tomatoes
4 cloves garlic, minced
maldon salt, sprinkle
olive oil, drizzle
basil, handful, sliced thinly
Roughly chop tomatoes and put into a bowl. Add the garlic, sprinkle with salt and let sit for at least 30 minutes, the longer the better. Gently heat before serving, only until heated through. Cook favorite pasta, drain, add basil, olive oil and tomatoes. Toss. Serve. Eat.
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