In honor of Cinquo de Mayo - a celebration that honors Mexican heritage and pride - I made a huge batch of Sangria and fajitas Saturday night. But when it came time to write this week's post I figured by now you probably have ingested just about as much chips and salsa as you could possibly handle. In fact, I bet the LAST thing you want to read about is how to make more Mexican food, am I right? So instead of giving you a recipe for a fantastic margarita (and boy do I have one!) I'm choosing to share last Sunday night's dinner instead - margherita pasta.
Don't adjust your glasses, you read correctly. Margherita is the term you see at many Italian restaurants to describe the simple 3-colored pizza made with mozzarella, tomato, and basil - the colors of the Italian flag. So I took the same concept and applied it to a pasta dish. In this recipe I replaced the mozzarella with shredded Parmesan, but use your family's favorite. This simple-to-make dish is very clean and just what our family needed after a gluttonous weekend of melted cheese and refried beans. It's light flavor makes it a kid favorite and it's low cost and time commitment makes it a parent favorite! Sure you can spend all day slaving over the stove to achieve a perfect sauce, or you can use peak-canned tomatoes and a few other ingredients to elevate your basic "noodles" to a premiere pasta dinner.
Angel hair pasta with tomato, basil & Parmesan cheese
Ingredients
1 lb pasta (I like angel hair for this preparation)
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 can diced tomatoes
dried basil
1/4 c of chicken broth
salt & pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese for serving
Directions
- Bring salted water to a boil, meanwhile heat oil in a skillet on medium heat
- Add garlic and cook until fragrant, but not brown
- Add pasta to boiling water and time for 1 minute less than lowest recommended time
- Add tomatoes and basil (crush in the palm of your hand to release the oils). Tomatoes are often picked and canned at the height of harvest, so they actually taste better than most "fresh" varieties - but if you come across some good homegrown ones at your local farmers' market feel free to substitute!
- Add broth and reduce by half
- Season the mixture liberally with salt & pepper - taste intermittently until seasoning is to your liking - remember it'll take a minute or so for the seasoning to incorporate each time more is added
- Add cooked pasta with a pasta spoon and toss in sauce, if it needs to be loosened, ladle in some of your reserved pasta water - the starchy water will help everything stick together
- Serve hot with shredded cheese
If this dish takes longer than 10 minutes to prepare, you're doing it wrong! Tasty dish for any night of May...not just Cinquo!