It isn’t summer until the tomatoes ripen and fresh basil can be picked. Eating fresh warm tomatoes reminds me of growing up with a large Italian family and summer meals together. Bruschetta, sauce, salads, so many wonderful dishes can be made with tomatoes and the best time to enjoy these dishes is in the warm summer days when everything is fresh. A few days ago summer began when I spent the morning at the pool with my nephews and niece, swimming and reading. Later I went home, rinsed off and spent the afternoon napping and reading some more. Not wanting to spend a lot of time on dinner, especially since the temperature outside had headed above 95 degrees, a quick sauce with fresh tomatoes and basil seemed the perfect meal for the perfect summer day.

Our garden took a beating with last week’s tremendous rainstorm, but while the garden is no longer upright and orderly, the plants all seemed to have survived. The tomato plants were toppled by the wind and rain, but I was able to find ten or so beautiful, plump red tomatoes by digging among the vines. I wish that I could be better organized and use each variety separately to get a taste for the different types of tomato, but as it was, I just used the ones that wouldn’t last another day. The basil, having been buried by unruly tomato plants, survived the storm and actually may have benefited from the extra rain and hot temperatures. The basil’s dark green leaves had a bruised purple look, which was either a result of the weather or maybe I just hadn’t noticed how much purple color is already in the leaves. Whatever the case, they looked very pretty torn up in the bowl.

Making simple quick tomato sauce on the stove means not having to heat the kitchen from either the oven or a longer cooking meat sauce, which is important in Texas in the summer. Pairing tomatoes and basil is no great culinary secret, but if you are looking for a quick delicious recipe, here is the one I used. The recipe is a slight variation on a recipe from Marcel Hazan, an amazing Italian cook whose cookbooks should be included in every kitchen library.

Tomato, Basil, and Garlic Pasta with Cucumber and Salmon Salads

Gently wash two pounds fresh tomatoes and then blanch them in boiling water for about a minute, or until their skin is easily removed. Leaving the skin on the tomatoes means that pieces of skin float about in the sauce and while they don’t taste bad, they make eating the sauce less pleasing. Once the tomatoes are cool, peel off the skin and chop them into medium size chunks or smaller. Mince 6 garlic cloves. Add 5 tablespoons olive oil to a heavy sauce pan. Add the garlic and tomatoes to the oil and add salt and fresh ground pepper, at this point you can also add a tablespoon of hot pepper flakes for an extra kick. Cook over medium heat for about 25 minutes. While the tomatoes are cooking, clean and dry a large bunch of basil and tear it into pieces. You should have a good cup and a half of basil. Add this to the sauce after it has finished cooking and has been removed from the heat. This sauce is best with a spaghetti noodle, all I had available was a spiral noodle and the sauce was still delicious. Before serving grate fresh parmesan cheese on each.

Since pasta is not enough to feed five hungry boys I also made a quick cucumber salad and salmon salad as sides. The cucumbers were also from the garden and I tossed them with olive oil, white wine vinegar, and fresh oregano. Salmon salad is a regular at our table and one that everyone loves to eat. For the salmon salad I used three cans of canned salmon, mixed in a generous tablespoon of mayonnaise and added salt and pepper to taste.