Raw Tomato Pasta Sauce

Tomatoes are so, so good right now, I'm eating them as much as possible. I usually make raw tomato sauce like this, but this time I took one big tomato and grated half of it on a box grater and chopped up the other half. The shredded part makes a nice, juicy base. I added some olive oil, a capful of balsamic vinegar, a drizzle of honey, fresh pepper, a big pinch of red pepper flakes, one grated garlic clove, and some basil. Mix it all up and let it sit for 10 minutes to a couple of hours. 

Cacio e Pepe

This is almost as simple as you can go for pasta, and you can probably make it with ingredients you already have in your kitchen. The freshly crushed pepper gives it a real kick. You can go as heavy or light on the pepper as you want.

Easy Scallop Spaghetti

I love going to Cor J in Hampton Bays for seafood. It's the best. Big variety and reasonably priced. This time I went looking for Peconic bay scallops, but unfortunately they didn't have any that day. I got sea scallops instead. I wanted to do a simple pasta and found this recipe online that sounded perfect. It was really simple, fresh, and light.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

6-10 sea scallops

2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

1/2 lb spaghetti

olive oil

butter

handful parsley, cleaned, dried, and chopped

white wine

Easy Oven Tomato Sauce

Oh wow. This is a game changing pasta sauce. It was so tangy and bright and rich, and the best part, EASY. So easy. You just throw it all in a baking dish and put it in the oven. I was inspired by this recipe, but tweaked it a little to give it a little of a puttanesca feel. We finished dinner in record time. Yum! It would also be great for a big group. Lasagna has that great smell and flavor of slightly burnt tomato sauce from the bits that stick to the pan and brown up - this has it too and it's delicious. Your kitchen/house/apartment will smell like heaven.