Are you just loving all the fresh tomatoes available right now? If you're lucky enough to have your own, home-grown on your property, then you're in hog-heaven. But those of us that have generous green-thumbed neighbors are doing well also. My wonderful neighbors are keeping us stocked in fresh tomato goodness.

Last night we had fresh corn-on-the-cob, thick juicy tomato slices garnished with grated Parmesan cheese and freshly chopped basil, and watermelon for dinner. Oh my.

But there are only so many fresh tomatoes you can eat, and then something has to be done. They can be dried and canned, but have you thought about making fresh sauce and then freezing it? That's one of my favorite approaches to a bumper tomato crop.

No-cook sauces make for fresh, flavorful, and light meals - perfect for those that want to include more raw food into the diet. And not many ingredients are required, actually, which is a distinct bonus. In my favorite recipe, hot olive oil and salt are added to diced fresh tomatoes and herbs. That's it. You need to be careful, though, to add the oil and salt just before tossing with your cooked pasta because the scalding oil releases the flavor of the herbs immediately. Also, the salt will draw too much liquid from the cut tomatoes if added too soon. I like this best with angel hair pasta. Anything heavier doesn't work as well.

If you have a FRESH Fruits and Veggies chapter in your Cook'n version 10, you'll want to add this recipe to it:

Versatile Fresh Tomato Sauce

No-cook sauces make for fresh, flavorful, and light meals - perfect for those that want to include more raw food into the diet. And not many ingredients are required, actually, which is a distinct bonus.

Ingredients:
4 pounds ripe tomatoes cored
2 1/2 to 3 tablespoons finely chopped, fresh basil
2 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped, fresh oregano
3/4 cup cold pressed, extra virgin olive oil
fine Celtic or sea salt to taste


Directions:

Peel the tomatoes with a vegetable peeler. Cut into quarters and remove and discard the seeds. Dice and transfer to a large serving bowl. Add the basil and oregano. Gently fold ingredients to coat tomato with herbs.
Immediately prior to serving, heat the olive oil over medium-low heat in small saucepan until hot (but not smoking); add salt and pour over the tomato mixture. Mix well. Toss sauce with cooked pasta and serve. TIP: This is especially nice with tiny mozzarella balls mixed in.

Recipe formatted with the Cook'n Recipe Software from DVO Enterprises.

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And now how about a few tips for perfectly-cooked pasta?

First: Use a LARGE pot that will accommodate lots of rapidly boiling water - at least 6 quarts for 1 pound of pasta.

Next, don't chince on the salt. 2 tablespoons of fine Celtic or sea salt is the minimum amount to add. This might seem excessive, but without enough salt, the pasta lacks flavor.

Then, cook to al dente. Stir the pasta and test. You'll know it's al dente when the pasta is a bit firm when biting into it, but not hard in the center. When you've reached this stage, drain and quickly toss with your sauce.

Finally, never rinse pasta. Doing so washes away the starch coating the helps sauces cling to the pasta. Sauce-cling, that's what you want.