BLT Pasta

With a plethora of tomatoes coming on in my garden over the last couple of weeks, I've been doing a lot of last-minute dinners that incorporate them. There is something so satisfying about cutting into a tomato that's still warm from the sun. Plucking them from the vine, they had the most intoxicating smell! I used to hate tomatoes with a passion-turns out I just hated the slimy seed part, and had tried one too many mushy ones which ruined me for the perfection of a semi-firm tomato on a bright summer/fall day.

One of my favorite quick dinners of late consists of only a few ingredients, but it's so tasty! Start with a few slices of bacon that you cook to crisp and then remove to a paper towel to drain. Put several grape or cherry tomatoes into the hot pan with the bacon grease and cook them until the skins open and then turn down the heat to let them simmer and their juices will create a sauce with the drippings; deliciousness that needs no additional salt or seasoning because the salty bacon does the work for you.

Porter Dark Cherry and Juliet Grape tomatoes with fresh basil

After the tomatoes have had a chance to simmer for about 5-10 minutes, chop the bacon into smallish pieces and toss them with the tomatoes. If you have arugula on hand, it's a great green to wilt into the pan at this point, but I didn't so I just used some basil from the garden for the fresh, green flavor. Toss in some cooked pasta and plate out your portions. I have also used a spinach raviolli in the place of the whole wheat spaghetti pictured and it was also really good. A little glass of vino makes the meal complete. (I started using the luncheon sized plate from Fiestaware, so I can still have a full plate o' pasta with a reasonable portion.)

Bon Apetit!