Two summers ago, I tried one of Alice Waters’ recipe for raw tomato sauce. I had a love/hate relationship with it. Deconstructed fresh tomatoes were something to celebrate and abhor, as if it were altogether too many seeds and pulp and skin to discover in a mouthful.
I’ve never been the kind of girl who will pluck a tomato from the vine and eat it on the spot without wincing from the acerbic affront to my taste buds. It’s not that I don’t appreciate the unadulterated fruit, it’s just that alone—it’s too complicated and edgy, kind of like a Francis Bacon painting.
To round out the raw tomato affect from Waters’ recipe, I doubled the amount of basil, decreased the olive oil to a splash, then added a nut cream base with cashews and pine nuts. Instead of leaving the chunky sauce to marinate for an hour, I put all the ingredients in a blender until it turned into a sultry cream. All I can say is Oh, my. Welcome to Tomato-ville, baby—there’s no turning back now. Who wants to anyway.
On a scorching hot summer day, serve the sauce with raw summer squash noodles. No stove, just a box grater, cutting board, and a knife. Simple enough.
Tomato Basil Cream Sauce
Yield about 1 1/4 quarts or 5 cups
2 1/2 pounds ripe tomatoes
1/2 cup packed fresh basil leaves
3/4 cup raw cashews
1/4 cup raw pine nuts
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
sea salt (to taste)
Wash and cut the whole tomatoes into large chunks (the skins, seeds, and core go in the sauce). Add the tomatoes, basil, cashews, pine nuts, olive oil, and a few pinches of salt to the blender (or Vita-Mix). Blend until silky smooth. Taste and adjust salt, if necessary. Store in a glass jar in the refrigerator.
(This sauce is inspired by Alice Waters’ ‘Raw Tomato Sauce’ found in her cookbook, The Art of Simple Foods and Lauren Ulm’s “Super Quick Tomato Basil Cream Pasta” found on her website Vegan Yum Yum.
Summer Squash Noodles
Yield about 4 servings
1 zucchini
1 yellow squash
To make raw summer squash noodles, all you’ll need is a box grater and a sharp knife—that’s it.
Using the wide blade on the side of a box grater, carefully slide the long-edge of the squash (from bottom to top) along the blade. Make wide strips on one side of the squash just until the seeds appear, then rotate the squash to the opposite side and repeat. Do the same on the remaining two sides then repeat with the other squash. Once all the squash is cut into wide strips, stack a few of the strips and with a sharp knife, carefully cut the squash into 1/4-inch-long fettuccine-style noodle strips. Repeat with the remaining squash.
Tomato Basil Cream Sauce with Squash Noodles
Prepare 1 batch of each:
Tomato Basil Cream Sauce
Summer Squash Noodles
To assemble the dish: For each serving, combine about a cup of zucchini noodles and with a few spoonfuls of raw tomato basil cream sauce, enough to thoroughly coat the noodles. Garnish with fresh cherry tomatoes, chopped basil, and pine nuts.
Two summers ago, I tried one of Alice Waters’ recipe for raw tomato sauce. I had a love/hate relationship with it. Deconstructed fresh tomatoes were something to celebrate and abhor, as if it were altogether too many seeds and pulp and skin to discover in a mouthful.
I’ve never been the kind of girl who will pluck a tomato from the vine and eat it on the spot without wincing from the acerbic affront to my taste buds. It’s not that I don’t appreciate the unadulterated fruit, it’s just that alone—it’s too complicated and edgy, kind of like a Francis Bacon painting.
To round out the raw tomato affect from Waters’ recipe, I doubled the amount of basil, decreased the olive oil to a splash, then added a nut cream base with cashews and pine nuts. Instead of leaving the chunky sauce to marinate for an hour, I put all the ingredients in a blender until it turned into a sultry cream. All I can say is Oh, my. Welcome to Tomato-ville, baby—there’s no turning back now. Who wants to anyway.
On a scorching hot summer day, serve the sauce with raw summer squash noodles. No stove, just a box grater, cutting board, and a knife. Simple enough.
Tomato Basil Cream Sauce
Yield about 1 1/4 quarts or 5 cups
2 1/2 pounds ripe tomatoes
1/2 cup packed fresh basil leaves
3/4 cup raw cashews
1/4 cup raw pine nuts
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
sea salt (to taste)
Wash and cut the whole tomatoes into large chunks (the skins, seeds, and core go in the sauce). Add the tomatoes, basil, cashews, pine nuts, olive oil, and a few pinches of salt to the blender (or Vita-Mix). Blend until silky smooth. Taste and adjust salt, if necessary. Store in a glass jar in the refrigerator.
(This sauce is inspired by Alice Waters’ ‘Raw Tomato Sauce’ found in her cookbook, The Art of Simple Foods and Lauren Ulm’s “Super Quick Tomato Basil Cream Pasta” found on her website Vegan Yum Yum.
Summer Squash Noodles
Yield about 4 servings
1 zucchini
1 yellow squash
To make raw summer squash noodles, all you’ll need is a box grater and a sharp knife—that’s it.
Using the wide blade on the side of a box grater, carefully slide the long-edge of the squash (from bottom to top) along the blade. Make wide strips on one side of the squash just until the seeds appear, then rotate the squash to the opposite side and repeat. Do the same on the remaining two sides then repeat with the other squash. Once all the squash is cut into wide strips, stack a few of the strips and with a sharp knife, carefully cut the squash into 1/4-inch-long fettuccine-style noodle strips. Repeat with the remaining squash.
Tomato Basil Cream Sauce with Squash Noodles
Prepare 1 batch of each:
Tomato Basil Cream Sauce
Summer Squash Noodles
To assemble the dish: For each serving, combine about a cup of zucchini noodles and with a few spoonfuls of raw tomato basil cream sauce, enough to thoroughly coat the noodles. Garnish with fresh cherry tomatoes, chopped basil, and pine nuts.