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Tomato basil pasta is a great way to use those end-of-season tomatoes.
Tomato Basil Pasta–What You Do With All Those Tomatoes
If you grow tomatoes in your garden, you know you always end up with some amount at the end of the season. When you’ve canned or frozen most of them, there’s still the last stragglers. Well, this tomato basil pasta is exactly the dish you want to use up what you have. Incidentally, it’s great off-season too.
This recipe also has the benefit of being totally vegan. It’s nice served with a bit of grated Parmesan or Romano but then it’s vegetarian instead of vegan. I love grated cheese with tomatoes and pasta, but I’ll tell you this–you don’t need the cheese.
Totally Vegan
Made as is, this meal is meatless and totally vegan. Don’t let that fool you–you won’t miss the meat here. It’s a good recipe to keep in your arsenal to make when you have vegan or vegetarian friends over for dinner. It’s also great for folks who want to go meatless a day or two each week because the cost of meat is skyrocketing. You don’t have to make this with the last of the home-grown tomatoes. Off season, make it with grape tomatoes you can get at your supermarket.
For the vegetarians in your list, this also works when served with grated cheese. The cheese adds a bit of oomph to the taste but it’s really good without it. I’m a cheese lover but I find it’s great without it.
Pasta
The best pasta shape for this is good old spaghetti. It just makes a nice presentation.
As an aside, if you also have a bumper crop of zucchini, why not make some “zoodles” with that. That way, this will be a very low-carb meal but satisfying nonetheless.
The Recipe
Tomato Basil Pasta
Ingredients
- 8 oz spaghetti style pasta uncooked
- 3 cups assorted tomatoes
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 clove garlic finely minced
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- Pinch of sugar
- 1/4 cup basil roughly chopped
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package directions; drain and set aside.
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. add garlic, salt, pepper and sugar; stir well.
- Add the tomatoes and cook until the tomatoes rust and release their juices. Cook until the liquid is slightly reduced. Add the pasta and basil. Toss well. Serve immediately.
- Serve with Parmesan or Romano cheese if desired. It’s still vegetarian with the cheese but no longer vegan.
