Fresh summer spaghetti

Good afternoon!!!

Have I mentioned I love food? :) 

This past week I tried a new recipe that turned out quite good and thought I'd share it. It is a quick, simple meal with easy ingredients. Prep and cooking time was about 20 minutes. I made it for 2 people, but could easily be made in a larger portion. 

1/2 box angel hair pasta

Mushrooms, sliced

Vine ripened tomato, roughly chopped

Vidalia Onion, diced

Italian Seasoning

Chives

Parmesan Cheese

Olive oil 

Garlic, minced

Shrimp, optional

In a large pot, bring salted water to a boil for your pasta. Cook pasta to desired tenderness, (I'm a fish out of water around here because most people in LI prefer al dente pasta, but I like mine a little softer)

*** Interesting note, I heard from a TV chef somewhere that your pasta water should be the saltiness of the sea. I thought that sounded crazy, but it does make a world of difference. I use a large handful of kosher salt in my pasta water. ***

In a sauté pan, heat olive oil and  sauté mushrooms (any kind, I used sliced white button mushrooms, about 1/2 a pint) and diced vidalia onion (1/2 a medium onion) until lightly browned. Add Italian seasoning and chives, to taste. Stir.

Once pasta is almost done, add garlic (to taste, I used just a pinch) and tomatoes(1-2 per person depending on size) to the sauté pan to cook garlic and warm tomatoes. You don't want to add these too early or you will burn your garlic and cook your tomatoes away. Add peeled shrimp at this stage as well if using. 

Drain pasta.

Add pasta to sauté pan and mix together, season with salt and pepper. Serve with a generous amount of fresh grated parmesan cheese.

***don't waste your money on jarred parmesan cheese, buy the fresh wedge, keep it Ina ziploc bag in the meat drawer in your fridge. It taste a 100x better and lasts a good long while.***

 

You could mix this recipe up to use whatever produce you have on hand. Don't like mushrooms, use yellow squash and zucchini (add with tomatoes so they stay crunch) or add fresh spinach at the end to boost it up a little.

Hope you enjoy! Let me know if you try it out, and if you made any changes!