James and Family

So we're doing our own cooking again at home. Maila requested a dish for dinner that I haven't done in a while -- pasta with fresh tomato and basil sauce. I like it because I love the flavor of the tomatoes sweetened by the simmering process, along the with sweetness of the basil. And when serving, I use enough sauce just to coat the pasta.

It's very basic, not too many ingredients, and I like to pair it with chicken breast or steamed seafood of some sort.
Start with 4 cups fresh tomatoes, chopped and seeded, 1/4 cup onion, 3 cloves of garlic, salt, pepper and about 2 tsp basil (dried).

- Saute the onions and garlic until tender, but not brown.

- Add the tomatoes and the salt and pepper.

- Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 40 minutes. After the 40 minutes, add the basil and simmer 5 minutes more, then you're done with the sauce.

- While the sauce is simmering, start preparing the pasta. This sauce works well with either spaghetti or capellini.

- While the pasta is cooking, start preparing the chicken. I use a simple marinade of olive oil, salt, pepper and rosemary, and set it aside for about 15 minutes. The chicken can be grilled or fried.


- While all that is cooking, wash your used utensils (I learned from my sister, that this is the only way to keep ahead of all the dishwashing later), and take the opportunity to set the table.


- But it's only a matter of time before the little hurricane discovers what you're doing and starts to play musical instruments with the stemware.

- So forget about the candles, and put aside the breakables. It's time to take out what's really for dinner.