🍅 Tomato & Basil Pasta – Cooking with Candice Style
Simple, Fresh & So Ridiculously Good
Because sometimes the best meals come from throwing a few things in a pan, sipping wine, and pretending you're cooking in a rustic Italian villa with a view of the hills. 🌿🍷
🛒 Ingredients (Serves 4-ish):
• 1 big package of sweet cocktail tomatoes (cuties preferred)
• 1 huge bunch of fresh basil (you can never have too much)
• 4 cloves of fresh garlic, thinly sliced like you're on a cooking show
• Olive oil (be generous, you’re in Italy now)
• Fresh homemade fettuccine (recipe here – because you're extra like that)
• Reserved pasta water (aka liquid gold)
• Salt & fresh pecorino cheese to finish
👩🍳 Directions:
• Bring a big pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Like, ocean-level salty.
• In a large pan (big enough to toss the pasta later), pour in a generous glug of olive oil and add your thinly sliced garlic.
• Let it cook gently for a few minutes—until your kitchen smells like heaven. Stir it so it doesn’t burn. (Burnt garlic = sadness.)
• Add your halved or quartered cocktail tomatoes. Watch them sizzle. Add salt—it makes the tomatoes taste like tomatoes.
• Stir gently for about 5 minutes while sipping your wine and pretending you're in a Tuscan villa.
• Meanwhile, cook your fresh pasta for just 2–4 minutes, depending on thickness. Don't overdo it—this is not the time for soggy noodles.
• Using tongs, transfer the pasta straight from the pot to the pan with the tomatoes. The pasta water starch clings to the noodles and makes your sauce extra silky.
• Add a handful (or two or three) of torn fresh basil, more olive oil, a touch more salt, and a splash of pasta water if needed to loosen it up.
• Toss it all together with love and serve immediately.
Top with fresh pecorino, pour yourself another glass of wine, and bask in your culinary brilliance. 🍝
Simple. Gorgeous. Full of flavour. And guaranteed to make you feel like you're on vacation—without ever leaving your kitchen.