a recipe // good pasta

i have had a serious cooking revelation recently in my kitchen and i am more than thrilled to share what has transpired with all of you.  out with the old and boring method of cooking pasta and in with the new much more flavorful way i feel makes dinner much better.

i must admit, i discovered this new method a few months back by complete accident and i have not gone back to my pre-revelation days since.  here is the old way i made pasta...i would cook the pasta noodles in boiling water with sea salt and a little bit of olive oil until done or at least al dente {firm but not hard}.  this worked, ehhhh ok, but did not the noodles any flavor whatsoever, and, well, that sort of ruffled my feathers because i had worked so hard on my homemade sauce that did not work with these blah noodles.

i accidentally came up with this new and better way.  one evening i was in a rush, go figure, and i took my noodles out way to early and put them into my simmering pasta sauce.  i noticed that they continued to cook and soak up the sauce, so i added more sauce, and monitored the pot until they were fully cooked and dinner was done.  

after eating, i thought to myself, "next time, why don't i just double my sauce recipe and cook my pasta noodles in the sauce {instead of flavorless water} too absorb the flavor and powerful ingredients?"  it was pretty much a "why of course!" moment, where i thought, "like, why haven't i been doing this before?" because it seemed so easy. 

so next time i tried it out...on purpose...and the results were incomparable to previous pasta dishes i had made.  here is a recipe i made this week, featuring a spicy tomato sauce and seared brown butter scallops.

it tastes like a margherita pizza...in pasta form...with scallops.  holy cow, it's good. 

//

spicy tomato linguini with brown butter scallops

- in saute pan, soften  1/2 an onion in 2 tablespoons of butter 
- after onions are translucent, add 2-3 cloves of minced garlic and one chopped roasted red pepper to pan
- as always, please season with salt and pepper as you go!
- after cooking the onion, garlic, & peppers down, add 1 cup of halved heirloom cherry tomatoes to the pan and cook on low heat until they break down
- add one more tablespoon of butter for good measure
- after this mixture has reduced for about 5 minutes {while stirring} add in 1 cup of marinara sauce {i use trader joe's pomodoro sauce with veggies} and two cups of tomato juice.
- at this point i add a hefty pinch of red pepper flakes to the pan and 1/2 cup of fresh basil and stir.
- make sure you stir often and keep the heat at medium while cooking down tomatoes. 
*if your sauce needs more liquid to cook the noodles, add tomato juice...not pre-made sauce!
- while this glorious sauce is cooking, boil some water and cook linguine noodles {seasoned with sea salt and olive oil to prevent sticking} only 1/2 way.  
- then put them {without draining because the pasta water is a good thing} into your sauce that has been simmering away.
- now for the scallops {seasoned with salt, pepper, and flour}.  brown some butter in a skillet and get the pan piping hot.
- drop each scallop in and cook for 2 minutes on each side depending on it's size.  i used diver scallops so they took the full 2 minutes. 
- when the pasta is done cooking in the sauce {i know by sampling}, add fresh buffalo mozzarella chunks {do not, i repeat, do not use pre-packaged cheese...it will not be good} and stir it up reaaaal good.
- top your dish with freshly grated parmesan cheese and more basil.

- enjoy!