So what did I make with those beautiful tomatoes from last Thursday?? Well, I knew that I wanted their flavors to be a huge part of whatever I did. They were too bright and deliciously soursweet to simply become another veggie in the mix. No, these guys needed to be large and in charge of a dish.
On the other hand, though, I didn’t want to just cut them up and add them as-is to a salad. Of course they would have made a splendid addition, but I also felt that they deserved some fun process.
So I decided to make a pasta sauce. But it was hot outside and I didn’t want to simmer and bubble the tomatoes into a hot sauce. Instead, I blended those babies with some zucchinis (to thicken) and spices. It was a cold pasta sauce that I was extremely pleased with. It had a nice kick of freshness that perfectly dressed some simple noodles. In addition, it was the quickest preparation ever. Ten minute meal for sure!
This is the best sauce for a hot evening where the amount of heat generated by a boiling pasta pot is already too much and you just want something cold, fast, and easy. My tomatoes were really juicy and I didn’t need much oil to thin out the sauce, so this is also pretty healthy. (Gotta be healthy when you’re pounding down the pasta haha). Anyways, I’m not a wine-pairer (by any means… I’ve just recently begun attempting to step away from the two-buck chuck display into the $3.99 section of Trader Joe’s), but I had this pasta with a glass of (not so bad, actually) Chardonnay and was pretty stoked.
So go! Find an especially weird looking pair of heirloom tomatoes and make some summer tomato sauce!
Recipe: Summer Tomato Sauce
Summary: A cold tomato sauce that lets heirlooms reveal their fresh, summery beauty.
Ingredients
- 2 heirloom tomatoes (reserve a quarter of one)
- 2 small zucchinis (I used a green and a yellow)
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- sprig of dried sage
- dash of black pepper and salt
Instructions
- Chop both tomatoes (reserve about a quarter of one of the chopped tomatoes) as well as the zucchini and then add to a blender.
- Add the olive oil, yeast, sage, and spices.
- Blend until you get a thick sauce. Can add more or less oil/zucchini to either thicken or make more watery.
- Dress your pasta with the sauce and add the extra chopped tomato.
Preparation time: 10 minute(s)
The Drunk Squash