Pasta with Yellow Tomatoes

One of the things I love about August is the absolute oversupply of garden veggies.  If many of the other months of the year are characterized by counting up to be sure we are eating all the veggies we need, late July and August are the months in which we go to bed realizing we've had more veggies in one day than we need for a week.  It is a continual contest to see where we can put veggies in our meals; if one veg tastes good, four will be even better!  And believe me, this is not something that we typically do in the depths of January, even with a good supply of home-preserved food, so our bodies thank us for this month's eating habits.

This year, I rather accidentally am growing too many Big Rainbow tomatoes, a yellow tomato with hints of red.  I say accidentally because it was one of the tomatoes in an heirloom sampler of seeds I purchased, and I grew it just because I had it.  I don't usually grow yellow tomatoes because they are not as acidic and therefore throw my canning off, but this year I have plenty.  So, time to get cooking! (And drying -- yellow tomatoes dry just as well as any other, and the acid is not a factor there.)

This recipe follows the basic pattern of pasta + cheese + veggies that you learned in Zucchini Orzo with Garlic and Basil.  To my way of thinking, learn one or two good methods of constructing a dish, then vary the ingredients by season.  It takes some of the guesswork out of dinner time.

Pasta with Yellow Tomatoes

1 box pasta
5 oz Parmesan cheese
3-4 medium yellow tomatoes, diced
1 leek, chopped
1 zucchini, shredded
1-2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 big handful basil, chopped
olive oil

In a saute pan, heat the oil and add garlic and zucchini and cook until zucchini is wilted.  Add the other veggies and herbs.

In the meantime, cook the pasta until al dente.  Add to veggie mix and add cheese.  Stir until cheese is melted and serve.

The Analysis

Fast:  If you chop while you saute, this can easily go from garden to table in 20 minutes.

Cheap:  As with so many of my summer dishes, all I purchased is cheese and pasta.  Look for pasta sales to maximize your savings.  This makes about good meal size servings or 6-7 side dish servings.  Those veggies take up some serious room!

Good:  I am trying to eat plenty of this kind of food, knowing how much I will miss it in January when I am peering into the cupboards and freezer, hoping the preserved veggies will stretch until spring.