Fusilli with Marinated Tomatoes & Basil

The secret to Italian food is to only use a few fresh and simple ingredients. So don't be fooled by the simple list of ingredients here. The list is small, but the result is flavorful if you use the best fresh ingredients you can find. Using food from your own garden is best, but if you don't have a garden, buy the best tomatoes and fresh basil you can find.

This requires almost no cooking, which means this is warm weather-friendly food. The only thing that requires cooking is the pasta! Let's do it! There will be pictures today.

Pour some olive oil in a large bowl. Yes, I do store my Italian olive oil in a squeeze jar. Shut up. Aim for about 1/4 cup. This is NOT a low-fat dish.

You need salt. I'm guestimating a tsp here. I'm not a measuring gal. Pour it into the olive oil.

Next is chili pepper flakes. Relax spice haters--it's just for flavor, not for fire. Put in 1/4 tsp.

Stir to dissolve the salt. It's the right thing to do.

Mmmm...tomatoes. Make sure they're nice and ripe. Cherry tomatoes would be less hassle. Just halve 'em and throw in the bowl. Vine tomatoes need to be chopped.

Like this. Yes, I do have a really crappy knife. It's on my list of things to buy when I have a real job. HA! In the meantime, I shall try not to lop off my fingers. Back to the topic at hand...

Throw the tomatoes in the olive oil and toss to coat. Next comes...

Garlic. I puffy heart love garlic. It makes my soul sing. However, we're only going to let a hint of garlic shine through in this delicious pasta salad.

Grab a few cloves and whack it with your knife. Make sure it's nice and crushed. The peels should come off easily.

They should look like this. Well crushed garlic will impart more flavor into the marinade. It's a good thing.

Grab some basil. If there were more basil, there would be no wars. Everyone would be smelling plants and smiling. Use about 5-ish leaves.

Now stack them up evenly and role them together. You're going to make a chiffonade. Then we're going to ruin it. The tragedy of it all.

Cut up the rolled up basil into strips. Mine is a little sloppy. I'm sure my crappy knife had something to do with it. It was after this that I cut the chiffonade into shorter lengths. Just do it--you want the basil flavor in there!

Now throw both the crushed garlic and the basil in the bowl. You're going to marinade this for about half an hour.

Now because we're using our time efficiently, about 15 minutes into the marinading time, start your pasta water. Grab your favorite pasta: I'm using Trader Joe's GF pasta here and cook it until al dente. I only used half the bag.

This is a critical decision: do you want cold pasta or hot pasta? It's bloody hot today, so it's cold pasta for me. Purists would say that you should throw the sauce onto hot pasta, then cool it, but I'm a rebel. And impatient. So I rinsed the pasta with cold water and threw it with the sauce. Please remove the crushed garlic from the marinade before doing this.

Toss to coat. It may not look like much, but the olive oil is flavored really well with the garlic, tomatoes, and basil. Now don't forget to add salt if you need it. I hate salty things, so mine was fine, but I've been told I have no taste buds.

You could devour this now. Or, if you're like me, I already made a dish to go with it. Vegatarians/vegans, please look away.

This here is some Marinated Flank Steak. The rareness kind of makes me gag, but I did it for a good cause.

But this would be good on its own on a hot day. You'll have extra marinade, but the pasta will suck it up over time. Make this: it's really good!

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The Ingredients
(1 lb) ripe and juicy tomatoes (plum or cherry tomatoes used whole. Larger varieties chopped)
(1/4 cup) extra virgin olive oil
(1 tsp) coarse grained salt (or 1/2 tsp regular)
(1/4 tsp) crushed red pepper flakes
(4 cloves) garlic, peeled
(1 lb) penne or GF pasta of choice
(10 leaves) fresh basil, shredded

The Directions
Toss the tomatoes, oil, sea salt, and crushed red pepper together in a large bowl. Crush the garlic and toss it into the bowl. Marinate at room temperature, tossing once or twice, for 30 minutes.

While the tomatoes are marinating, cook the pasta in salted water according to the package directions.

Meanwhile, take out the garlic toss in the basil. Drain the pasta, add it either cold or hot to the bowl, and toss well to mix. Check the seasoning, adding salt and more crushed red pepper if necessary.