Spaghetti with fresh tomatoes, basil and garlic

One of my favourite summer recipes – incredibly quick and easy to make

I love this recipe!  To me, it just shouts out “It’s Summer!” The colours, the scent, the flavours…everything comes together to give your taste buds a glorious treat.

Ingredients for Spaghetti with fresh Tomatoes, Garlic and Basil (quantities according to taste)

• Spaghetti
• Fresh tomatoes, chopped up
• Fresh garlic, finely chopped or crushed (about half a clove per person, but this is subject to individual taste)
• Fresh basil leaves, torn or roughly chopped
• A generous splash of extra virgin olive oil
• Salt to taste
• Ground chilli flakes to taste (add to individual servings at the dinner table)

Method

Bring a big pan of water to the boil, add a handful of coarse sea salt and a drop of oil (no need for olive oil here, it’s just to stop the pasta from sticking)

Put enough spaghetti into the boiling water for however many people you’re feeding and cook to ‘al dente’ consistency (cooked but not soggy, with a little bit of ‘bite’ left)

While the pasta is cooking, chop the tomatoes and finely chop or crush the garlic

Place these into a big bowl and add the chopped or torn basil leaves

Season with salt (to taste) and add a generous helping of excellent quality extra virgin olive oil

When the pasta is cooked, drain and immediately transfer into the bowl holding the tomatoes, basil & garlic

Toss everything together and serve immediately!

For those that enjoy a bit of spice, provide ground chilli flakes (we have ours in a salt/pepper mill set to its finest setting) and each individual can add these to their own portion, to taste.

Enjoy!

Tomato Spaghetti – Gloriously Simple, Gloriously Good!