Pasta Alla Checca

Pasta Alla Checca Ingredients

16 oz pasta2 cups chopped tomatoes1 cup fresh basil, roughly chopped2 cups fresh, soft mozzarella, mini balls or large balls chopped into 2⁄3 inch pieces1 cup shaved Parmesan cheese2 garlic cloves, grated2/3 to 1 cup high quality pure olive oil1⁄2 cup reserved cooking water fromthe pasta1 tsp garlic salt1 tsp himalayan salt1⁄2 tsp freshly ground pepper

Directions

1. Chop the tomatoes, remove the excess seeds. It’s not necessary to remove all the seeds but we remove about 2⁄3 of them. If using cherry tomatoes, cut them in half and lightly squeeze out some of the seeds without squishing the tomatoes too much.2. Toss the tomatoes in a bowl with the 1 tsp of garlic salt and the grated garlic. Do not discard the tomato water that the tomatoes let out, it will become part of the sauce.3. Cook pasta until al dente, still slightly firm. Before draining, remove 1 cup of water from the pot.4. Drain pasta and quickly toss with all of the ingredients. The recipe says to reserve 1 cup of cooking water, but we only used 1⁄2 cup. You can also use only 2⁄3 cup olive oil, but the flavor is better and silkier with more. The warm pasta melts the cheese ever so slightly.5. Salt and pepper to taste . We used an extra teaspoon of Himalayan salt.6. Serve warm