Summer Pasta

Most of the classes which I am taking are held in the morning. I love this because that means that I get to go home and make lunch for myself!

I headed to the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, hmm thinking what I could make out of the things in hand. The weather was too hot for something too heavy. I needed something light, fresh, sharp and colorful. So there, I picked up some cherry tomatoes, lemon and basil leaves, closed the refrigerator, hesitated, opened it again and grabbed my block of parmesan cheese. A little cheese won't hurt!

Summer Pasta
(serving: 1)
Ingredients
- 20 cherry tomatoes, 1/3 lemon, a handful of basil leaves, 75g of pasta, 30g grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, extra virgin olive oil, salt & pepper
Preparation
1. Boil the water. Add in a little bit of salt and oil. Once boiled, add in the pasta and boil for whatever time is suggested at the back of the pasta packet. I boiled them for around 8 minutes. Once boiled, drain the pasta and set aside.
2. Wash and drain the cherry tomatoes. Cut them in halves, squeeze them and place them in the pasta bowl and dress with extra virgin olive oil with some salt and pepper. 
4. Tear the basil leaves into smaller bits by hand, squeeze the lemon for its juice, grate lemon for its zest and grate parmesan cheese, all to be tossed into the big happy pasta bowl. Taste and check the seasoning. Be generous at this stage, it does not matter if the flavor is a bit too strong for now as you will be mixing in the boiled pasta right away.
6. Add in the drained pasta, which should be warm, not boiling hot. Mix everything together until the cheese is melted. 
8. Finish off with one more splash of extra virgin olive oil, some grated parmesan cheese and a little bit of sea salt.
 
Dig in and enjoy!