Meatless Monday: Tomato Basil Capellini

I cannot get enough tomatoes and basil in my life right now.  I guess it could be a weird pregnancy craving.  Maybe this baby will take after the Italian side of my family.  Anyway, this meal is very simple - not many ingredients.  The only thing that will take some time is cutting up the tomatoes.  I'm very picky about diced tomatoes.  I don't like any of the slimy, seedy insides to mix with the crisp outsides.  So it takes me longer to dice tomatoes.  But otherwise, this meal is very simple.  Here we go:

Ingredients:

5 medium tomatoes and 5 Roma tomatoes, diced (I like to use Roma tomatoes because there have less slimy, seedy insides to deal with, but you can use any tomato you'd like)
14 ounces angel hair pasta, freshly cooked
½ cup olive oil
15-20 basil leaves, chopped or 2 tablespoons dried basil flakes if you don't have fresh basil
½ cup pine nuts (optional)
3 garlic cloves, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
Grated Parmesan


Instructions:

1.  Dice tomatoes, chop basil and mince garlic.
2.  Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add 2 tablespoons of salt and a splash of oil to the pot.
3.  Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan. 
4.  Add the garlic and pine nuts to the oil and cook over medium heat for 1 minute. 

5.  Add the tomatoes, basil, salt, and pepper. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for 5 to 7 minutes, tossing occasionally, until the tomatoes begin to soften but don’t break up.
6.  While the tomatoes are cooking, add the capellini to the pot of boiling water and cook for 4 7.  minutes, or according to the directions on the package.
8.  Drain the pasta, reserving some of the pasta water.
9.  Place the pasta in a large serving bowl, add the tomatoes and Parmesan and toss well. 
10.  Add some of the pasta water if the pasta seems too dry. 
11.  Serve large bowls of pasta with extra basil sprinkled on top and a big bowl of extra Parmesan on the side.



This will serve 6 people!


I'm sure this isn't the last you'll see of my tomato and basil obsession.  We already have a few teeny tiny tomatoes growing in our little garden!  And our basil is looking really good too.  When those tomatoes are ready to be picked, things are going to get out of hand!