8/26- Rigatoni with No-Cook Tomato Sauce

Last summer, my mother-in-law made this sauce for us one night and served it with shrimp. It was delicious, and I decided then that I wanted to try it with pasta, it just took me a year to do it. It's really insanely easy! I was a little nervous that it wouldn't taste right since it wasn't heated, but when you mix it with freshly cooked pasta it heats it up just enough to be awesome. What made it even better was the fact that pretty much the entire sauce came out of my garden! Well, not the olive oil, I didn't bother with an olive grove this year. The tomatoes, parsley, basil, and thyme were all freshly picked right before I made the sauce. Can't get better than that!

No-Cook Tomato Sauce

1 lb ripe tomatoes (3 large or 4 medium), cored and cut into 1/2 inch dice (about 4 cups) *
1/2 c good quality extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 c roughly chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley or basil or both
1 T coarsely chopped fresh thyme
1 tsp minced garlic (1 medium clove)
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper; more to taste
Pinch crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

Combine all of the ingredients in a non-reactive bowl large enough to hold the tomatoes and the cooked pasta; mix well. Let the sauce sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes and up to 3 hours.

Toss the sauce with just-cooked pasta. Adjust the seasoning to taste with salt and pepper and serve immediately

*I used cherry tomatoes since that's what I had in my garden. Loved it!