As much as I enjoy eating out at great restaurants, there is nothing more relaxing, more satisfying than having a great dinner at home, particularly in the summer when cocktails or dessert can be served on the porch and dinner served inside at the table. I love being able to move around through the courses of a meal. More often than not, the simpler the meal, the better it is. After spending a day at the beach with a friend who was visiting, I really hadn't planned ahead as to what we would have for dinner, but had a few ideas. However, Penne pasta with fresh tomato sauce and goat cheese was not on my list of options.
I knew we could could pick up and steam some fresh lobsters (the benefit of living in a town with a lobster market) and serve with some grilled native corn. Lobster and corn is always a great simple summer meal (I have become spoiled living near the ocean.) But instead, my friend suggested we get some tomatoes from the farm stand, make a tomato sauce, serve it over pasta and top it with goat cheese and basil. Lobster or pasta, which one to choose? We went with the past and it turned out to be the perfect meal to end a perfect day at the beach. I made the pasta and salad and she made the sauce.
From the beach we went to the farm stand and picked up a pint of grape tomatoes, a small red onion and a head of garlic. That was all we needed as there was basil in the garden, goat cheese in the refrigerator, and pasta in the cabinet at home. And yes, there was more than enough wine to go with the meal as well as some leftover blueberry crisp.
There is nothing better than cooking with and eating fruits and vegetables in the season in which they are locally grown. Especially tomatoes. I cannot eat a 'fresh' tomato after September or before the beginning of July as tomatoes in the 'off season' are tasteless. So essentially there are only three months of the year where tomatoes are cooking and eating worthy. With possibly the exception of grape tomatoes as they seem to have a sweetness about them year round.
The tomato sauce may be simple, but the flavors are anything but. The garlic and onions are sautéd in extra-virgin olive oil before chopped grape tomatoes are added and cooked until they have somewhat caramelized.
The longer you cook the tomatoes the deeper the flavor of the sauce. At a minimum the sauce should be cooked for twenty minutes. I cooked the sauce on medium heat at the beginning and reduced it to medium low with the pan covered. Every few minutes I stirred the sauce making sure that the heat was cooking and not scorching the tomatoes.
While the sauce is cooking, the penne pasta should be cooked until al dente as once drained the pasta is finished cooking in the sauce. (I used about a half pound of penne pasta for this recipe.) Before draining the pasta, reserve some of the pasta water as you can use it to make your sauce just a little creamier.
Fresh basil and goat cheese are added layers of flavor to this pasta dish. Basil cut chiffonade style (thin long strips) makes for a great presentation. The dish takes about two ounces of goat cheese that has been crumbled.
This is a meal that comes together in less than an hour. It is beyond flavorful, satisfying and delicious. So if you have had a long day and have unexpected (or expected) guests, this is a dish that looks and tastes like you have cooked all day.
Recipe
Penne Pasta with Fresh Tomato Sauce and Goat Cheese
Ingredients
1 pint of grape tomatoes, chopped
3 - 4 cloves of garlic, minced (I used 4 cloves)
1/4 cup red onion, minced
4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 pound of penne pasta
2 to 3 ounces of goat cheese, crumbled
Basil leaves, cut chiffonade style
Directions
1. Heat 4 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in a deep sauté pan (a non-stick pan works well if you have one). Add the garlic and sauté for about one minute. Add the minced onion and cook until the onion is softened and slightly translucent.
2. Add the chopped grape tomatoes and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Cook on medium to medium low heat, stirring often. Once the tomatoes have softened, cover the pan and stir frequently. Cooking time is at least 20 minutes.
3. While the sauce is cooking, make the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain, reserving some of the pasta water.
4. When sauce is finished, add the al dente pasta and continue cooking for 2 to 3 minutes or until the pasta has been completely coated by the sauce. Add more salt to taste.
5. Pour pasta onto serving platter and top with basil and goat cheese.
6. Enjoy hot or at room temperature.
The house I live in sits back from the road so its the back door everyone comes in. I call this little entry way a vestibule as I haven't come up with a name for it yet. I wanted the space to be welcoming so I filled it with treasures I have collected at the beach and at antique shops and shows. I seem to be good at filling spaces. When I moved in this little vestibule was yellow and black. I could not see myself or anyone else walking into those colors everyday so it was the first space I repainted. (My apologies to those of you who love color on your walls, who love the color yellow.) And it was no surprise that I painted the walls white. Painting the door blue was a bit of a color stretch for me, but in living in such close proximity to the ocean it was a door destined to be blue, a door that, if it could speak, said it wanted to be blue. (Yes, I am someone who believes that houses have a way of telling you what color they want to be and what kinds of furnishings they want to have. No, I am not crazy, just call me a house-whisperer.)
From fresh eggs, to bouquets of flowers, to homemade jams, to vegetables from a garden, my little vestibule has been a place where surprises sometimes await my arrival. It's funny how such simple gestures of kindness and generosity have brought such great joy. I will miss this house and my neighbors someday as in such a short period of time they have given me so many tangible and intangible gifts. As much as I might try, I am not sure I could ever repay their kindnesses. Somedays I wonder how I got so lucky to find this little farmhouse and be surrounded by such amazingly thoughtful and giving neighbors. I have always believed that people come into your life for a reason even if we don't know what that reason might be at the time. But now I also believe that some people come into your life when you need them most.