Dinner Tonight: Babbo's Sun Gold Tomato Pasta
Earlier this week I wrote about my garden in Brooklyn and its lone lacinato kale-plant-that-could. But I have a very different story to tell about my garden's tomato plants, especially the Sun Gold, which began as a Greenmarket seedling only a few inches tall and now towers over me at close to seven feet. I have no idea what I did to deserve this, or what magic there is in the Brooklyn water, but the sight of literally hundreds of tomatoes that will someday ripen is almost frightening.
Not that I'm complaining. Sun Golds are among the most delicious tomatoes I've ever tasted, a perfect balance of sweetness and acidity—you can eat them like candy. This recipe, from New York Magazine adapted from the Babbo kitchen, couldn't be simpler. The flavors begin with the traditional "caprese" basil-and-tomato, but calls for lemon basil instead of regular basil and adds chives. Look for Sun Golds at your local greenmarket or replace them with very ripe cherry tomatoes.
About the author: Blake Royer lives in Brooklyn and spends most of his free time cooking and writing about it here at Serious Eats and on The Paupered Chef. From 9 to 5 weekdays, he works as an assistant book editor in Manhattan.
Babbo's Sun Gold Tomato Pasta
- serves 4 -
Adapted from New York Magazine
Ingredients
2 tablespoons salt
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 pints Sun Gold cherry tomatoes or other cherry tomatoes, whole
1/2 bunch chives, cut into 1-inch lengths
12 fresh lemon-basil leaves, thinly sliced
1 pound pasta (bavette, linguine, spaghetti, just about any kind)
Procedure
1. Bring a large pot of salty water to boil. Cook the pasta until al dente, reserving some pasta water.
2. In the meantime, heat a large skillet or sauté pan with the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until it softens and just begins to brown.
3. Add the tomatoes, chives, and basil (reserve some for sprinkling at the end) and cook until the tomatoes just begin to burst.
4. Add the cooked pasta to the skillet and cook over high heat, stirring, for an additional minute to marry the flavors. Moisten with olive oil or pasta water as desired; serve immediately.
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5 Comments:
You're so lucky! My tomatoes are quite sparse this year.
A bit off topic but, is "bavette" the type of pasta used in the photo this recipe? I've never heard of it and those noodles look really nice
hungrychristel at 5:43PM on 08/14/08
no, these are bavette. I am curious about the noodles pictured above too. They look like papardelle but only half as wide as usual. Blake, can you enlighten us?
simon at 5:47PM on 08/14/08
I think the Brooklyn water may be a problem if your plant is only seven feet tall? Mine is already 10 feet tall at least, and I've been neck deep in them for weeks.
The best part is that they freeze fantastically well, so if you end up with more than you can eat or give away, just toss them in a ziploc bag in freezer. If you also freeze some chiffonade basil in an ice-cube tray, you can enjoy this in February too. Yeah, the tomatoes will be a little soggy, but they will still taste like summer!
AtlBen76 at 7:10PM on 08/14/08
add chili flakes with the garlic, finish with pecorino romano
louisralph at 12:48PM on 08/15/08
hungrychristel and simon: The pasta is Rustichella d'Abruzzo brand, and the shape is called "pappardelle rigate." So it is like pappardelle, but a bit more narrow and thicker, with ridges running down the length.
Blake Royer at 11:31PM on 08/17/08