My husband is a pastavore. He can live on pasta and pasta alone. That being said, he won’t touch spaghetti. He’ll eat the same marinara sauce on any other shaped noodle but he won’t touch a spaghetti noodle. Really. Flatten that noodle out a bit and he’ll eat it, no questions asked.
I can’t pick at him too much about his spaghetti phobia. It’s definitely not my favorite noodle but I have a bit of a food phobia myself: I won’t touch corn unless it’s on the cob. The second you cut it off the cob, it becomes completely inedible unless you’ve buried in a bowl of soup, a chicken pot pie, or a muffin. On the cob = pass me the butter! Off the cob = headed straight for the garbage.
This is a super quick & easy meatless dish and it’s made with husband-approved noodle shape. We’re talking from pantry-to-table in about 20 minutes, depending on how quick a water boiler your cooktop is. We also like to swap the tomatoes and basil for crispy pancetta for a creamy, eggless carbonara pasta. We’ve actually set aside our previous favorite carbonara recipe in favor of making it this way.
Buttered Linguine with Tomatoes and Basil
A weeknight favorite: quick and easy pasta dish with fresh tomatoes and basil.
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb Linguine
- 2 Tbsp butter, melted
- 1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
- 2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped
- 2 Tbsp basil, chopped/chiffonade
- 3/4 cup Pecorino Romano or Parmesan, finely grated
- Salt, to taste
Instructions
- Cook pasta 6-8 minutes, or until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta water before draining.
- Toss hot pasta in a large bowl with butter, pepper, tomatoes, basil, and cheese.
- Add 1/4 cup pasta water and toss to moisten. Add additional water if necessary.
- Salt to taste and serve immediately.
Notes
Yields: 3 servings
Estimated time: 20 minutes