tomato & basil brown butter spaghetti

T O M A T O ... B A S I L ... B U T T E R ... S P A G H E T T I ... B E L L I S S I M O !

okay, so what's better than the delicious taste of garden-fresh tomatoes? maybe someone who blogs more than once every three months... HA! funny!

but honestly, if you have access to fresh tomatoes and basil, and you're open to vegetarian(or vegan) options...this recipe is going to be for you. i've been doing a lot of cooking, but haven't been branching out as much to new things until the past couple weeks (i don't know why, just have been in the mood for the food i am used to eating at home with the fam bam - shoutout to you guys, love and miss you).

anyway, back to this recipe. i find that some of the best foods we eat are the simplest, and this is no exception. all you need is spaghetti, olive oil, butter, tomatoes, basil, garlic, salt, and pepper!

step 1 is simple: dice your tomatoes and chop your basil, put them in a bowl with a pinch or two of salt, stir the mixture around a little bit, and then let this sit in the bowl for 15(ish) minutes so the tomato juice has time to seep out of your tomatoes (the fresher the tomatoes the better, because they're always juicier!)

 step 2: while your tomato-basil mixture is sitting, start boiling a pot of salted water (add a little bit of olive oil for extra flavor and less-sticky spaghetti) to cook your pasta!

step 3: once your water is boiling, add the spaghetti and follow package directions to get the perfect al dente pasta

step 4: while the pasta cooks, take your butter and add to a saute pan over medium heat. when the butter is halfway melted add in your minced garlic and pour the tomatoes into a strainer over the saucepan so all of the basily-salted-tomato juice goes into butter. you'll be left with the tomatoes--set these babies aside while you stir the tomato water into the butter (the mixture will be a cute pink-ish color!).

step 5: let the tomato flavor soak into the butter for a few minutes, but turn the burner down to low so the butter doesn't get burnt (brown butter is what we are going for, but NOT smoking butter). add the rest of the chopped basil to the tomato-butter mixture and let this continue to sit over low heat for another 3-5 minutes.

step 6: don't forget about your pasta! make sure you don't overcook the spaghetti... the italians are watching you. when you drain your pasta, another trick is to add a tiny bit of olive oil again and stir that around so your pasta doesn't stick (in case you couldn't tell, i hate when my spaghetti is sticky and not beautiful).

step 7: add your diced tomatoes back into the tomato and butter mixture. stir them around so the butter can be evenly distributed over your beautifully-diced tomatoes and then let the tomatoes get a little bit warm by leaving them over low heat for another 5 minutes. 

step 8: when your tomatoes are nice and warm, serve a nice heaping cup of pasta (yes one cup is a serving size and makes for good portion control, but because you're being so good with this vegetarian meal... make it a nice-sized cup) onto a plate and then top with your beautiful tomatoes and brown butter!

here is the list of ingredients & measurements you might need if you want to tackle the above recipe for two people... so if you're cooking for more than two, please do the math! we don't want people to be grumpy at the dinner table.

t o m a t o - w a t e r :

• 2 large tomatoes, diced 
• 2 tbsp. chopped basil
• a generous pinch of salt 

s p a g h e t t i:

• 1/2 box of spaghetti 

t o m a t o  b r o w n  b u t t e r :

• 4 tbsp. butter (vegan option: you can substitute Earth Balance or olive oil if you're being really healthy! i would definitely recommend earth balance because you can still have the browned butter effect)
• 1 garlic clove, minced (as small as possible! chunks of garlic aren't super appetizing;))
• 2 tbsp. basil
• tomato water drained from the bowl of diced tomatoes (i would say its approximately 1/4 c. from 2 tomatoes)

ok folks, that's all i have for you for tonight, but i promise i have quite a few recipes coming soon considering my long lapse in posting...

bon apetit!

xoxo,
lex♡