Welcome to another Saturday evening here at WFD! In the midst of the heat of summer cooking can often become a chore so I find myself looking for ways to make the most of fresh produce without heating up the kitchen (and myself!). Salads are perfect and I have made a number of tasty ones lately but I found myself with a surplus of cherry and grape tomatoes that were getting a bit wrinkly and would be better suited to a cooked dish. This recipe for a quick and simple pasta dish seemed like the perfect way to use them.
What’s for Dinner? is a Saturday evening get-together where friends share recipes, talk about good food and help others answer culinary questions.
We welcome you to our virtual table every Saturday evening 4:30 PT/7:30 ET. If you would like to write a post for an upcoming date just send a message to ninkasi23!
First off I want to address a slightly controversial topic;) Refrigerating tomatoes. YES, I know, I used to be the person that would gasp in horror at the thought of putting fresh tomatoes in the fridge. I still refrain from doing so until I know I won’t get to them in time. But a few years ago I happened to read an article that discussed the science and advised that they can be refrigerated (optimally for no more than 3 days) and the key is to let them come back to room temp for best flavor. The article is here:
How to Store Tomatoes (and Whether to Refrigerate Them)
So, I had about a pound of grape tomatoes that I had stashed in the fridge to save from going bad as well as a good handful of lovely just-picked Sun Golds from my patio (NOT refrigerated). I remembered I had saved a recipe that used fresh cherry tomatoes (which h/t blueoregon had shared in video form here previously) and took a look to see if I had the rest of the ingredients. I only had half the amount of tomatoes so I realized I could just halve the recipe and that would work out perfect for two. Here is the full recipe that makes 4 servings:
Fettuccine with cherry tomato butter sauce
from Sip and Feast
Ingredients:
- ▢1 pound fettuccine
- ▢3 pints cherry tomatoes halved (I left some of the smaller ones whole)
- ▢1 medium onion diced
- ▢1 stick unsalted butter
- ▢salt and pepper to taste
- ▢¼ cup parsley minced
- ▢¼ cup basil hand torn
- ▢2 cups reserved pasta water (will most likely not need it all)
- grated Parmesan cheese as desired
Instructions:
- Melt butter in large saute pan over medium-low heat and saute onion until softened. Add the tomatoes and season lightly with salt.
- Cook, stirring often, about 30-35 minutes until tomatoes have burst and softened and the butter has completely blended with the tomato.
- Cook fettuccine in salted water to just shy of al dente per package instructions.
- A minute before the pasta is ready add a cup of the pasta water to the tomato sauce and continue cooking.
- When the pasta is just shy of al dente add the pasta to the sauce and toss to coat. Cook until the pasta is al dente then turn off the heat and season to taste with more salt and pepper as required. Add the herbs, toss once more, then plate. If the sauce is at all dry, add more of the reserved pasta water a few ounces at a time to loosen it up.
- Serve with grated parmesan cheese if desired.
This is a simple yet absolutely delicious dish that comes together quickly! It is a lot of butter though so perhaps not the healthiest;)
I did not think to take pics when I made the dish but the leftovers in their container might give a good idea of what the dish looks like:
What’s for dinner at your table tonight? Any of you growing veggies this summer? If you are looking for more tomato recipes you can find lots here in our archive:
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Pull up a chair and grab a frosty cold beverage and welcome to our table!