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July 16, 2011
A Summer Pasta
This is a perfect pasta for the months when cherry tomatoes, zucchini and yellow squash are at their zenith (roughly mid-July through mid-September here in the Great Southland). It is light but very filling. As such it does very nicely in the heat.
Basic Ingredients:
-1 lb of dried pasta (could be penne, but look for something more interesting, like fusilli)
-Olive oil
-2 heads of garlic, peeled and chopped fine
-Some basil (at least 20 leaves) chopped into thin ribbons
-3.75 cups of halved yellow tomatoes
-2 cups of halved grape or cherry tomatoes
-2.5 cups thinly (1/8 inch or so) sliced zucchini*
-2.5 cups thinly (1/8 inch or so) sliced yellow squash*
-1 cup or so of toasted pine nuts**
-salt and pepper
-around 15 ounces of chicken stock
-parmiggiano-reggiano cheese.
* I use a mandolin for these.
**Always toast pine nuts at high heat. This requires more attention (there is a fine-and quickly crossed-line between toasted and burned) but is worth it since the nuts retain much more of their moisture, oil and integrity (and, therefore, taste and texture) that with "low and slow" toasting. I toast pine nuts in a non-stick saute pan.
(If the tomatoes are a bit large, you can quarter them but it is better to avoid doing this if possible since the halved tomatoes hold their shape and tooth feel better.)
Now, to get down to brass tacks:
Bring generously salted water to a boil. Just before you feel ready to throw in the pasta put a big saute pan over medium heat. As you throw in the pasta put some olive oil in the pan and toss in some finely chopped (or thin sliced, depending on your preference) garlic. Tip the pan to pool the olive oil in one end and then stew the garlic in the oil for 2-3 minutes.
Put the pan back down and raise the temperature to high as you throw in around 15 ounces of chicken stock and 1.75 cups of halved yellow cherry tomatoes. Thoroughly mash the tomatoes (I literally use a potato masher) into the stock as it reduces somewhat. This sauce should quickly look like this:
A few points about this step:
-If the pan becomes too illiquid, toss in some more chicken stock.
-These two components-the stock and this first infusion of yellow tomatoes-form the yellow tomato sauce that is the base of this pasta. If you want a more saucy pasta, just add a bit more of each of these.
-You could strain out the tomato skins and garlic chunks or puree them into the sauce. For instance, you could send the sauce through a food mill (if you go this route you might need to add in a few tablespoons more chicken stock). I actually prefer the texture these solids help build when they are just left alone (no straining, no pureeing, just keep cookin'). But the tradeoff is this: straining will lead to a more elegant, silky kind of expression, while not doing so preserves a kind of rustic integrity. Or some such big words.
As the tomato/chicken stock/garlic mixture is coming to a high simmer/low boil, add in some salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste (I don't use much salt because the pasta is already cooking in very salty water and parmiggiano-reggiano cheese will be added later).
After a minute or two toss in 2.5 cups each of thinly sliced zucchini and yellow squash. Add salt and pepper. Allow this to cook for 5 or so minutes, tossing often and gradually reducing heat to medium. The zucchini cooking:
On this occasion I actually went slightly overboard on the zucchini and yellow squash, so I should have either added a bit less of these or a bit more chicken stock/yellow tomato mash to achieve a little bit better sauce coverage for the zucchini and yellow squash. But this pan is a bit too crowded.
By the end of that time that zucchini and squash should have softened but still retain some faint bite and the first batch of yellow tomatoes should have formed a golden broth with the stock. When the pasta is nearly done, toss in 2 cups of halved grape or red cherry tomatoes and 2 cups of halved yellow cherry tomatoes. As the pasta finsihes, toss it in as well and allow the elements to just mingle for a minute or two. As you remove the pan from the heat toss through some toasted pine nuts and freshly chopped basil. Serve in bowls topped with some more toasted pine nuts and the undisputed king of cheeses. Make sure that each bowl has a half to three quarter inch base of the tomato broth before shovelling solids into it.
A few final notes:
-For the gluten intolerant, you could just forgo the pasta. Then, to serve, spoon some sauce into the base of a shallow bowl and pile (as artfully as you can) the mixture onto the center of the bowl, sprinkle with some remaining toasted pine nuts and shave on some Parmiggiano-Reggiano cheese.
-Never grate any cheese into this dish as it cooks: that will give it a creamy character that detracts from its freshness. The cheese should be a final note with its own integrity and not wholly integrated into the sauce.
-The pasta will look more elegant if you can center the solid components in the bowl and leave a margin of the golden broth all around (obviously I was not aiming for elegance with the shot above).
Update:
I re-made the dish the next day. Here is a marginally better plating of it:
Posted by dag at July 16, 2011 12:50 PM
Comments
What else can you do with the tomato sauce?
Posted by: FoodLobster at July 18, 2011 8:27 AM