Tomato and summer squash spaghetti

With olives and herbes de Provence

Hello! Welcome back! Skip all the rambling and scroll right to the bottom of this post for a printer-friendly PDF of the recipe only.

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My favorite way to freestyle cook this summer has been pasta, loaded with delicious seasonal produce, on repeat. Tomatoes from the garden or farmers market or regular old grocery store, whatever other veggies we have lying around, some oil, some butter, some cheese. Herbs if I have them, maybe something from the pantry to add brine or depth.

To be honest, it’s my favorite way to cook all year round — throwing whatever I have in a pot with noodles and calling it dinner — but it’s undeniably better in the summer. The produce! The light! The feeling that it’s all so fleeting and must be enjoyed now!!

Because sure, you can make a fresh tomato pasta year-round, but it won’t taste as good — as innately tomato-y — in February as it will in August. A short rib ragu is a short rib ragu, any day of the year.

Which is why you must make today’s recipe today. Or tomorrow. Or in the next few weeks, at the latest. While the tomatoes are still candy-like and the summer squash is grassy-sweet.

Tell me more

This spaghetti is super simple, but relies heavily on fresh produce. Because these ingredients are at their peak right now, we don’t need to add much to make them taste great. Just some onions and garlic for savoriness, olives because I love them and think most things could benefit from these salty little jewels of flavor, butter and parmigiano to bring it all together, and a splash of lemon to brighten everything up. In less than 30 minutes, you’ll be twirling the first bite onto your fork, taking the first bite, and sighing with pleasure. Ahhh, summer pasta. That’s the stuff.

Before we start

• I’m usually a get your produce wherever you prefer type of gal, but I really think this recipe benefits from really good tomatoes. If you can go to a farmers market, go. Find the prettiest lil’ tomatoes you can, try one, bask in the glory of tasting a tomato that has never once been refrigerated, then fill up a bag with more than you’ll need for this recipe. Trust me, you’ll want to add them to everything.

• Spaghetti is my chosen pasta here, but any kind will do. Short, long, whatever. I just really enjoy twirling noodles onto my fork and slurping them up.

• An Italian white wine would be my instinctive pairing here (perhaps because I love ‘em so much). Pick up a bottle of Soave or Pecorino, have a glass while you’re cooking and the rest while you’re eating. Thank me later.

  

The recipe

Cook time: 30 minutes

Serves: 2-4, depending on how hungry you are