Bursting tomato, basil, and mozz pasta
for when you need to chill the f*ck out
Are you ever just like ‘UGH, what the hell should I cook for dinner tonight?’
lol, of course you are. And trust me, I am too.
I just got back from my trip to Israel and I’m honestly still overwhelmed.
It was my first ever culinary-focused journey, and I was actually selected for it back in 2019 for a 2020 trip.…blah blah……you know what happened the next two years. So it was finally rescheduled for this June!
For one week, a group of 25 food professionals and I toured around the country and ate incredible food, learned the complicated history, met amazing people, built a beautiful food community with each other, and saw stunning sites.
It was amazing - but when I returned, I didn’t know what do to with all the feelings. I was full with notes on flavors and spices and recipe ideas. Full of intention to start sharing these incredible new recipes with you. Full of dreams to start doing some badass shit in the culinary world. But it’s almost like I was TOO full and had analysis paralysis over where to start. How do I explain this experience? What do I do next?
So, I turned to food.
Sometimes you need to go back to simple in order to ground yourself and give perspective. All of this cooking stuff has come on really fast for me and my head has been stirring with what my next “big” step is. As some of you may know, I’ve spent most of my life in restaurants, but on the operational side, and only in the last couple years have I been diving deeper into actually cooking. And only in the last year have I been writing about it. And then, strangely enough, in the past couple months people have even been *paying* me to cook for them. It’s all so wild, unplanned, and I have to pinch myself.
Enter this bursting tomato, basil, and mozz pasta. This is an extremely simple recipe filled with just 5 fresh ingredients. I actually used to make probably 1x a week back in the day before anyone was calling me a “chef.”
Back in the day, baby Tessa (by baby I mean in my mid-20s…), would come home late from working at the shops, run to the corner grocery to pick up a cherry tomatoes, basil, mozzarella, garlic, and pasta, and take 30 mins to just enjoy the process of cooking. Put my phone down, put on some music, maybe pour a glass of wine, and just let the wafts of garlic whisper sweet nothings into my ear. It was a simple time - but isn’t that how nostalgia works?
Flash forward to now - things are feeling complicated and busy. And I’m hungry. I just ran to the corner grocery to pick up a cherry tomatoes, basil, mozzarella, garlic, and pasta, and took 30 mins to just enjoy the process of cooking. Put my phone down, put on some music, poured a glass of wine, and just let the wafts of garlic whisper sweet nothings into my ear.
Even with all that’s happened in all those years, I still turn to this recipe for just pure and simple nourishment.
And now, here I am telling you all how to cook it - because it’s my hope you turn to this recipe when you just need to chill the fuck out for a sec.
And while I was stirring the pasta, I finally got the revelation from my trip that I had been struggling to find the words for:
I’m absolutely in love with food and how it creates culture and meaningful interactions. You can learn so much about a community by what they eat and why they eat it. You can have the deepest connection over sharing a meal. You can nourish your body and mind by knowing where your food comes from and the story behind it. For me, it all starts with food, and that’s so rooted in who I am and how I interact with the world.
So, as long as I’m living in my joy and sharing that light that it brings me with others, I’m actually really doing all that I need to be doing right now.
A friend on the trip told me that “we are our ancestors wildest dreams.” and I feel this privilege so immensely lately. The fact that I was selected for this unbelievable trip, the fact that I have the freedom to do what I love, the fact that I can choose my happiness. I don’t ever want to take it for granted.
I’m not sure where I’m headed, but I’m just going to keep going.
Join me?
Bursting tomato, basil, and mozz pasta
Serves: 2
Ingredients
1 pint cherry tomato, sliced in half
1 ball of mozzarella, cubed into 1” (the pre-packaged mozz balls also work perfectly well)
1 handful basil, thinly sliced
6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
salt and pepper, to taste
red pepper flakes, optional: if you want it spicy!
1/2 cup reserved pasta water + more to taste
1/2 box pasta of your choice (I’m a long noodle, classic spaghetti gal my self) - I KNOW 1/2 box pasta on a recipe is so annoying, so go ahead and double this recipe if you wanna use the full box and feed more people / have leftovers
Let’s do it!
slice and dice your ingredients.
start to boil your water for the pasta so it’s ready by the time your sauce is ready. salt the water heavily (general rule is for it to be as salty as the sea 🧜🏿♀️)
heat a large skillet over low-medium heat with a healthy dose of olive oil.
add the cherry tomatoes to the pan and salt and pepper to taste. Stir, and let them slowly cook in the pan, stirring occasionally (about 5 mins) until they look juicy and about to *pop*.
add your sliced garlic and stir to incorporate with the tomatoes.
add the red pepper flakes, if you’re looking for a lil spicy pasta
when the tomatoes look properly juicy, gently press down on the tomatoes with a spatula so that the juices run out. we don’t want to completely smash the tomatoes here, but we do want those yummy juices as that is the base of our “sauce.”
let the mix sit on low heat for about another five minutes, until it looks pretty juicy up in there - pressing down on the tomatoes a few more times throughout.
boil your noodles. when the pasta is properly al dente, pull it straight from the pasta water into the pan with your tomato sauce. no straining necessary - we actually want this starchy nectar of the pasta gods in our pasta to help bind the ingredients together! plus, now you don’t have to dirty a colander :)
add the mozzarella.
adjust the pan on low heat.
with a spoon, stir the pasta gently in circles until the sauce is incorporated. add more pasta water as necessary if you you think it needs more liquid.
add most of the basil, but leave a few leaves for the final garnish
when the mozzarella is a lil melty, it’s ready!
serve up with an other drizzle of olive oil, salt, pepper, and the reserved fresh basil.
Enjoy with a glass of wine. You've earned it sweetie.
Love ya mucho,
Tessa
I’m obsessed with you.