Salsa Cruda Pasta

Perhaps my favourite line from Mark Bittman's book was from his recipe for linguine with raw tomato sauce (and basil). You could use good-quality canned tomatoes, he said, "it won't be the same, but it won't be bad (do not, however, use dried basil, here or anywhere else). And since I have some basil plants and my parents gave me a thing of cherry tomatoes from the market, I knew I should use his recipe as a base for a meal.

Pasta With Raw Tomatoes

1/2 cup chopped tomatoes

1/2 tbsp olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tbsp basil leaves, tightly packed

salt

pepper

1 cup pasta

2.25 cups water
Cook the pasta – I used my absorption style method. Meanwhile, combine the tomatoes, basil, oil, salt and pepper and mash with a fork. With a few minutes to go on the pasta toss in the garlic. When the pasta is done, top with the sauce and serve.

Serves 1.

I should probably give a note on the water/pasta ratio. Because I was using fusilli instead of a more tightly packed together pasta my cup overfloweth, as they say. As is I wont, I measure out pasta by filling a plate with the dried stuff. The ratio does not scale up, 2 cups of pasta for 4.5 cups of water would leave excess water (though again, that's not necessarily a problem).