Paradoxical Cold Tomato Sauce

This week's entry will be short but I would like to share some moments with you. This was a hectic week but I was able to meet my cousins in Manhattan this week. We went to the Cuban restaurant and tried the Zesty Corn recipe in it's original incarnation...and I think mine was much better in many ways. Their corn was too rich...dipped in mayonnaise and rolled in tons of grated cheese, to which had been added spices that were way too much for some tastes. I have to fine tune mine however, and will post the new recipe as soon as I can.

Meanwhile I remain committed to keeping a neat and clean refrigerator (within reason: all things in moderation, including moderation), and not overbuying when I can help it. To this end I discovered 8 plum and "vine" supermarket tomatoes that were about to go past their prime...what to do!!!! So I made the following, and boy was it good!!!

Paradoxical Cold Tomato Sauce

So I boiled some water, placed the 8 tomatoes in the pot, boiled them for a couple minutes, slipped off their skins, cut them in quarters and whirled them briefly in my food processor until they were not pureed but a nice small-chunky consistancy, like canned crushed tomato sauce. Not too chunky because it will be too watery. Then I poured them in a saucepan and COOKED (hence the paradox!) the liquid down until it looked like something I might want to pour over pasta, maybe 10 minutes.

I placed the sauce in a ceramic bowl and let it cool down. Then I added all my regular cold pasta sauce ingredients:

1-2 crushed garlic cloves
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic (or red wine) vinegar
salt and pepper
5-6 leaves of fresh basil. You can cut into strips or leave them whole if you want less basil taste
1/2 cup grated romano or pecarino cheese to add, and grated cheese over the sauce and pasta...

I also added fresh parsley, 3-4 whole leaves this time.

After I combined all the ingredients I covered the bowl placed it in my fridge. I ate it with rotini pasta and the flavor was outstanding...much better (less convenient though) flavor than canned. Imagine if I had used garden tomatoes!

Enjoy the lovely weather!