cook: Presto Pasta Nights - Food Processor Pasta Sauce

Yesterday I wrote about my Saturday trip to the farmers market and about Operation: Too Many Tomatos. The tomato level is going down slowly. When you have a large box of tomatos taking up counter space in your kitchen, using them one at a time in salads or sandwiches doesn't make much of a dent. So I thought I'd make up a pasta sauce for Presto Pasta Night this week, not a cooked sauce though, a raw one.

If we were still having our hot weather (see, I told you I'd miss it!) this would be a perfect dinner for getting in and out of the kitchen fast. With some fresh pasta that only needs a few minutes to cook you could have this meal done in 10 minutes, I bet.

You could also use this as a topping for brushetta, in a salad, or on a piece of grilled chicken or beef. Heck, you could whiz it a bit longer in the food processor and call it gazpacho!

This was delicious, though a little wet. Next time I find myself with 10,000 pounds of tomatos and making sauce I think I might de-seed some or all of the tomatos. Or just drain off some of the liquid before tossing with the pasta (which is what we actually did).

Food Processor Pasta Sauce

Place the following ingredients in the bowl of your food processor:

1/4 cup basil leaves, torn
1/4 cup green onions, chopped
10 kalamata olives, pitted
3 garlic cloves
2 tb olive oil
1 tb balsamic vinegar
1 tb orange juice
1/2 tsp hot pepper flakes

and process until finely chopped, but not a paste. Scrape down the sides often.

Add:

2 lb tomatos, washed and quartered

and pulse, again scraping down the sides, until the tomatos are chopped into small pieces. Unless you really do want to make gazpacho, watch carefully.

Pour sauce into a bowl, taste and season with salt and pepper if necessary. Cover and let sit for at least one hour before using.

I cooked up some fusilli noodles, drained some of the liquid from the sauce, and tossed the noodles, sauce and some goat cheese together. Yum!