After our big Thanksgiving feast we decided to take things down a notch and do easy healthier recipes this week. I found this recipe on http://www.chow.com and it was perfect because every ingredient is a favorite of Perry’s. Oh and did I mention it only took me 30 minutes to make?
Serves 6-8
Ingredients:
– 1 carton of cherry or grape tomatoes, diced
– 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (no more than 1/4 cup. You don’t want to make it too oily)
– 1 1/2 tsp. salt
– 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
– 1-6oz can of black olives, drained and rinsed and roughly chopped
– 1/4 cup fresh or dried basil leaves, if fresh chop it
– 2 medium garlic cloves, minced
– 1 lb orecchiette pasta
– 1/4 cup of hot pasta water from your cooked pasta
– 1 cup crumbled feta (I wouldn’t get the herbed or sun dried tomato feta. Try it plain the first time. I guarantee you’ll love it)
Directions:
1.) Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
2.) While pot is heating dice up your tomatoes and put them in a bowl with the olive oil, salt, and pepper. Let sit for 10 minutes so the tomato juices can drain a little into the oil making a nice sauce.
3.) By this time your pot should be boiling so cook your pasta. (orecchiette takes about 10 minutes.)
4.) Add olives, garlic and basil to the sauce and mix well.
5.) DON’T FORGET TO RESERVE 1/4 CUP OF WATER FROM YOUR POT FOR THE SAUCE. Strain pasta and transfer back to the large pot.
6.) Pour sauce and reserved pasta water over the pasta.
7.)Gently stir in feta.
8.) Enjoy!