Parsley Sauce with Fresh Ripe Tomatoes
- 2 cups loosely packed fresh Italian parsley leaves
- 3 plump garlic cloves, peeled
- 1/2 teaspoon peperoncino flakes or to taste
- 1 or 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 1/2 pounds ripe tomatoes, either full-sized or cherry tomatoes
- 1 cup freshly grated pecorino (or half pecorino and half Grana Padano or Parmigiano-Reggiano, for a milder flavor)
- A food processor
- To make the basic sauce: Put the parsley leaves, garlic, peperoncino, and 1 teaspoon salt in the food-processor bowl.
- Pulse several times to chop the leaves coarsely, then, with the machine running, pour in all the olive oil in a steady stream.
- Stop and scrape down the sides of the work bowl, and process to a fine-textured, very loose pesto.
- Use this parsley sauce right away to dress pasta or as a condiment.
- To store, scrape the sauce into a small container, cover the top surface with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for a day (or freeze for later use; defrost at room temperature).
- For parsley sauce with tomatoes: Prepare the tomatoes before processing the basic sauce.
- For full-sized round tomatoes, cut out the cores, slice the tomatoes in half, and squeeze out the seeds, then cut the flesh into 1-inch chunks.
- For cherry tomatoes, simply slice them in half.
- Put all the cut tomato pieces in a deep bowl, and toss with 1 teaspoon kosher salt.
- Let the tomatoes sit for a few minutes to release their juices while you process the parsley sauce, as detailed above.
- Pour the freshly made parsley sauce over the cut tomatoes, and toss together well.
- Use within an hour or two.
- If it waits longer the freshness and bright color of the parsley vanishes.
- To dress the pasta with either the basic parsley sauce or the parsley-tomato sauce: Put the sauce in a bowl big enough for tossing.
- Cook the pasta until al dentetake some of the boiling pasta water to loosen the parsley sauce only if it seems too dense to toss.
- When the maccheroni (page 236 ) is done, drain and drop it into the bowl with the sauce.
- Toss well, then sprinkle over it a cup or so of grated cheese, and toss again.
- Serve immediately in warm bowls, with more cheese at the table.
parsley, garlic, peperoncino flakes, kosher salt, extravirgin olive oil, tomatoes, freshly grated pecorino, processor
Taken from www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/parsley-sauce-with-fresh-ripe-tomatoes-372337 (may not work)