Recipe: Pasta with Raw Tomato Sauce

Pasta with Raw Tomato Sauce

1 pound tomatoes, ripe
2 each garlic cloves, peeled
3 tablespoons olive oil, extra virgin (more as needed)
1/4 cup parsley, basil or arugula-chopped
3/4 teaspoon sea salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper-to taste
1 pound spaghetti
freshly grated Parmesan cheese for serving

Peel tomatoes if desired. Cut each in half horizontally, and squeeze out seeds into a strainer set over a bowl. Discard seeds, and save juice in bowl. In a food processor, mince garlic. Add tomatoes, juice, 3 T. olive oil and herbs. Pulse quickly to chop roughly for a rustic sauce, or partially puree for a more elegant texture. Transfer to a bowl, add salt and pepper and let marinate 10 to 30 minutes.
To serve cold: Cook pasta in boiling water until al dente, drain in colander, and hold it under cold running water to cool paster. Transfer to a bowl, toss with 1 T. olive oil and chill in refrigerator up to 1 hour. Right before serving, toss with marinated tomato sauce. Don't combine the two in advance or pasta will become soggy.

To serve warm: Cook pasta al dente, drain and toss with marinated tomato sauce. Serve immediately.

To serve hot: Cook pasta very al dente, 2/3 of the recommended cooking time. Drain, reserving 1 cup of the pasta water. Mix pasta and tomato sauce in a large frying pan, and stir-fry together for 3 to 5 minutes to complete cooking the pasta, to partially cook the sauce and to integrate both. If sauce is too dry, add some of the reserved pasta water. Serve immediately.