Today's grativibe is about fresh, no-fuss flavors straight from the garden.
Every year, we plant a cute vegetable and herb garden on our deck. Banana peppers, heirloom & cherry tomatoes, basil, and rosemary are annual staples. This year, we added serranos, flat-leaf parsley, dill, yellow squash, and okra. We weren't expecting last year's chives to come back, as well as two volunteer cherry tomato plants - so bonus there! It's fun, and we're enjoying a nice little crop this summer.
"Little" is the operative word there. Our deck garden doesn't produce enough to make a large quantity of anything. Instead we use our harvest to supplement and garnish, like:
- adding sliced tomatoes, banana peppers, and basil to pizzas
- using the cherry tomatoes in a Southwest Summer Salad (coming soon!)
- blending the serranos for Avocado Ranch Dressing (also coming soon!)
- dicing peppers for Vegetarian Breakfast Burritos
- mincing the dill in That Good Dip
- and keeping chopped parsley in the refrigerator for everything! (See Tip #2 in this post.)
And I make this 20-minute, simple and satisfying dinner!
Simple Garden Spaghetti
Ingredients
- 8 ounces spaghetti
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 8-10 cherry tomatoes, quartered
- 1 tablespoon fresh garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons fresh basil, chiffonade or rough chopped
- 2 ounces parmesan cheese, shaved or grated (omit for Dairy Free and Vegan)
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Boil spaghetti in salted water as directed for al dente. While spaghetti is cooking, use this time to prep tomatoes, basil & garlic. Drain spaghetti in colander and set aside.
- Heat olive oil in the same pot used for spaghetti. When oil shimmers, add tomatoes. Sauté, stirring occasionally, until tomatoes start to give up their juice. Add garlic and cook a few minutes longer. When juice is starts to evaporate, remove from heat and stir in spaghetti.
- Season to taste with salt & pepper. Stir in most of the fresh basil and parmesan. Garnish with remaining cheese and basil.
- Enjoy!
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