This simple pasta dish is easy and full of flavor!!  I normally use spaghetti or thin spaghetti for this dish but you can use any pasta you have on hand.

What you will need:
4-5 cloves of garlic chopped up
1/2 cup of olive oil
1 whole medium tomato
1 tbsp dried basil
1/2 cup fresh basil
3 tbsp of heavy cream
1/4 cup grated parmasan cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
1 lb (box) of spaghetti (or any pasta)

First add the oil to a pan and heat up on medium, then add your garlic.  While that is sautéing chop up your tomato.  My technique is cut the tomato in half, lay it cut side down, then chop in slices, stack the slices back up like your putting it back together again then cut slices going across, repeat with other side, add the chopped tomato to the pan.  Add a dash of salt and pepper and the dried basil and simmer for a minute or two.  Then add your fresh basil, another dash of salt and pepper, and let simmer for another 15 minutes while stirring occasionally.  In the meantime fill a pot of water, sprinkle with some salt, and start heating it on high for cooking your pasta.

When the water starts boiling add the heavy cream and cheese to the pan.  It creates nice coloring and also thickens it up a bit.  Side Bar–  I always keep at least a medium size container of heavy cream in the fridge.  Its really good for sauces and other recipes and it has a pretty decent shelf life so I recommend having it on hand 🙂

Cook your pasta until its a LITTLE more on the al dente, or harder, side because your going to add it to your pan and toss it and you don’t want to end up with mush!  When its done strain it and a little at a time add it to the pan and toss it around.  If you dump it all in at once it is SO much harder to mix around, trust me 🙂

When everything is coated serve with some more parmesan and you got yourself a meal!!

Hope you try it and enjoy!
xoxoxoxo