This is THE recipe to make this week to use up those delicious late-summer tomatoes!
This is a recipe from Scarpetta restaurant, owned by Scott Conant a restauranteur who has appeared on quite a few food TV shows. I remember seeing this pasta featured on The Best Thing I Ever Ate on Food Network on the Sauced episode; I was quite intrigued because the person discussing it said it was totally worth the $24 price tag (now $26-damn inflation)…he said he’d even pay FORTY DOLLARS FOR IT! What would that be in today’s dollars?!
I’ve seen this recipe all over the Internet, all to rave reviews. I made it last summer and thought it was absolute perfection in terms of capturing the freshness of summer and the essence of tomatoes. It’s a little bit of work to pull it all together…but many things that are worth doing take some effort, right? Just keep in mind that this is not your run-of-the-mill spaghetti with tomato sauce recipe (aka from a jar) and you do want to plan ahead so you have plenty of time to pull it all together. Make a side salad and allow this pasta to shine *Italian chef kiss gesture*.
It’s pasta with tomato sauce, plain and simple. But what it makes so special is the perfectly ripe tomatoes, quality of the spaghetti (use the best dried or fresh pasta you can get it-or make it!), and the basil- and garlic-infused olive oil that is added to the tomato sauce near the end of the cooking time. This gives you some fruity richness with all the garlic flavor we love, but without the chunks of pungent garlic. Cook the pasta just shy of al dente and immediately add it to the sauce to finish cooking. Top it off with a little butter and tons of Parmesan (Parmigiano-Reggiano to be specific-splurge for it). You get three layers of basil flavor too-infused in the olive oil, cooked in the tomato sauce, and fresh basil sprinkled over when serving.
This recipe does use some high-quality canned San Marzano tomato purée, which you can adjust up or down depending on how ripe and sweet your fresh tomatoes are…you do want to keep this in the recipe to add some backbone and another layer of tomato flavor to the sauce, but feel free to up the ripe tomatoes and use less if your tomatoes are EXCELLENT!
I haven’t perfected that restaurant-worthy pasta swirl to plate it but never fear-I eat enough pasta that I’m sure perfection will soon be mine. Then I will compile a video for you all so you can do it too!
I highly recommend going to your local farmers’ market this weekend, stock up on tomatoes and immediately coming home to make this recipe! There is something so magical about a simple recipe done absolutely right.
[tasty-recipe id=”32216″]
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