Pasta with fresh tomatoes, garlic and basil

By popular demand, here's the rest of the recipe for our carbo-load dinner in preparation for last weekend's half marathon.  The home-made pasta took some time and effort, but the sauce I made was so easy that it's just not right that it was so gooooood.

Home-made Fettuccine with Tomatoes, Basil and Garlic

Crazy Girl got a rare invitation into the kitchen while I prepared this so that she could take some pictures.  It's tough for me to allow her in.  I'm like a magician that doesn't want his secrets given up.  I prefer to have her gush over a meal and wonder how I managed to create something so wonderful in our lousy kitchen.

I used the beautiful wok that I received for Christmas to make this.  A large pot or even a skillet would work just fine.

The main thing you must have to make this wonderful is fresh ingredients.  You could substitute canned tomatoes, dried basil and garlic powder in case of a natural disaster.  But for God's sake don't try to substitute for some good (preferably extra virgin) olive oil.  Here is the ingredient list I used:

1 tablespoon olive oil
4 fresh roma tomatoes
1/2 yellow onion
8 cloves of garlic
Chopped basil - I used roughly 15 good sized leaves

Below I'll suggest other things you might add.  My sweetie likes it fresh and simple, so I omit some things you might like.

Chop up the onion into pieces about 1/4 inch square.  The smaller the better - you don't want the onion to dominate this dish.

Smoosh, crush and otherwise humiliate the garlic cloves.  It's important to crush them before chopping because it releases the powerful flavors inside.  I use the flat blade of my kitchen knife, but if sharp things scare you then use something else - that little bowl behind my hand in the picture below would work just as well.

Crush the garlic before chopping

Then chop up the garlic into small pieces.  Add some olive oil to your pot/pan/wok.  We don't like too much oil, so I used some paper towel to coat the pan without creating a puddle in the bottom.

Lightly oil the pan

Over a low heat, slowly cook the garlic and onion, stirring frequently.

Cook the garlic and onions over low heat until they get soft and shiny

While the onions and garlic cook, return to your tomatoes.  First, quarter them and remove the seeds and white/green core.

Seeding the tomatoes

They should be sliced thinly, possibly even diced.  The artistic part is up to you.  Now finely chop the basil.  If you want to add some heat, throw in a teaspoon or three of red pepper flakes now.

Slice up the tomatoes - but not too small!

By now the onions and garlic should be getting soft and slightly translucent.  Go ahead and add the tomatoes and turn up the heat to medium.

Add the tomatoes a few minutes before the basil

Now is a good time to start your pasta boiling so that the sauce and pasta are done about the same time.

Our home-made basil pasta

When the pasta is almost done, add the basil, stir and cook for only about a minute.  You're done!

Ready to serve - add a little salt if you like

We have it just as is, but you might want to top it with a little grated parmesan (the real stuff, not out of a green can)