Summer Garden Pasta

Nothing's more satisfying than hitting the farmer's market, buying fresh produce from local vendors and putting it into a delicious meal later that day!  What's even better when it costs under $10. And you don't need much as long as everything is fresh--the flavors of ripe produce whether tomatoes, asparagus, green beans, or squash will speak for themselves.  In fact, the less you manipulate them the better they taste sometimes.

This recipe is quite simple in that you only need a few ingredients: one vegetable, a few fresh herbs, and bowl of angel hair pasta.  I stumbled across this summer pasta from Ina Garten's recipes back in 2006, and couldn't get over how brilliant this was--marinate your veggie for a few hours, boil pasta, and toss it all together--done!

Satisfying. Fresh. Ingenious. Time-saver. Tasty. Scrumptious. Budget-friendly. Practically No-Experience-Needed. And this will feed a crowd, i.e. all of your roommates and then some.
If you can't live without meat, sear a chicken breast and slice it on top!

Equipment:
Mixing bowl
5-quart sauce pan to boil pasta
Tongs

Ingredients:
Angel Hair Pasta, 1 box, cooked al dente

4 pints cherry tomatoes, halved

4 - 6 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup olive oil

1-2 Tbls of fresh herbs, minced, i.e. thyme / oregano (or 1 tsp dried of each herb you use)

20 basil leaves, sliced into strips, 'julienned'...or chopped

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1 1/2 cups parmesan cheese, finely grated

Instructions:

1. Wash your hands.

2. Combine the cherry tomatoes with the oil, garlic, herbs, basil, salt / pepper, and red pepper flakes.

3. Let marinate x 4 hours, or so.

4. Boil your salted (1 tsp salt) water and make the pasta

***this pasta goes quickly, i.e. 2-3 minutes until done.

***this pasta is thin, so add 1-2 tsp olive oil to the water right before you drain the pasta

5. Combine the pasta directly into your vegetable marinade and toss.

6. Add the parmesan cheese and toss until well-combined.

That's 'all she wrote'. Eat up and enjoy the leftovers! Savor the rest of summer.