Cappellini with Roasted Tomatoes and Basil; Sugar Snap Pea Salad with Mint and Champagne Vinaigrette

 

In the summer months, simple pasta dishes and throw-together salads using seasonal ingredients are a godsend. We don't do central air at the Worth (or any air conditioning for that matter) so it is best to keep the oven off and cooking times short or risk ruining the climate on the otherwise quite tolerable ground floor.
 

Tomato and basil as a sauce for pasta, of course, is pretty much standard Italian cooking. Over the years, I've made tons of variations. This one was inspired by a cookbook by Frank Stitt called Bottega Favorita: A Southern Chef's Love Affair with Italian Food. I am no great fan "Southern cooking" - all apologies to my Virginia-born cousin and his family - so when I first picked up this book I was a bit skeptical. I was wrong. A collection of well-researched, well-tested recipes culled from Stitt's Birmingham, Alabama, restaurants, the book is definitely worth adding to the library of any Mediterranean cooking enthusiast. So thanks to Signore Stitt... And also to Michael Colameco, the New York/New Jersey television and radio personality who recently invited Stitt on his weekly show and thereby introduced me to this excellent chef. 

Cappellini with Roasted Tomatoes and Basil

• 1/2 pound cappellini
• 1 can Muir Glen oven roasted tomatoes; or 10-12 fresh plum tomatoes roasted in oven at 250F for 2 hours
• 10-12 large basil leaves
• 4-5 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/2 tsp crushed red chile pepper
• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup freshly grated parmigiano reggiano 

Prepare pasta water, heat to rolling boil, add salt. Heat olive oil over medium hear, add crushed garlic, lower heat and saute until garlic is soft - 2-3 minutes. Add cappellini to pasta water and cook for 2 minutes. While pasta is cooking, add basil and tomatoes to olive oil, increase meat to medium high and cook for 3-4 minutes. Drain cappellini, reserving 1/2 cup pasta water. Do not rinse. Add pasta to sauce and combine, adding reserved pasta water if mixture seems to dry. Serve with generous amounts of grated parmigiano-reggiano.

On hot, humid summer days here in the Northeast, the perfect accompaniment to a quick-cook summer pasta is a no-cook salad. This one is inspired by Joanne Weir's Williams-Sonoma cookbook titled Spring.

Sugar Snap Pea Salad with Mint

• One pound fresh sugar snap peas, ends trimmed
• 1 cup fresh mint leaves cut in chiffonade, reserving 3-4 whole sprigs
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 shallot, minced
• 2 tbsp champagne vinegar
• Small handful heirloom grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
• Salt and pepper

Blanch the peas in boiling, salted water for 2 minutes; add to ice bath to stop cooking; after five minutes, drain. Combine oil, vinegar, shallot, salt, and pepper into bowl and whisk until emulsified. Combine peas, mint strips, tomatoes in bowl and toss with vinaigrette. Let stand for 10 minutes and serve on plate with mint sprigs.