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Engaging stories of love, joy, comfort and friendship with proven scrumptious, healthy recipes, we celebrate LOVE as the secret ingredient for wonderful food!

Sunny Golds with Bacon Pasta Sauce

August 14, 2020 by Mary 5 Comments

Finished Sunny Golds with Bacon Pasta Sauce on Spaghetti.
Finished Sunny Golds with Bacon Pasta Sauce on Spaghetti.

It’s summertime and the living should be easy, right? Well in this Covid/ pandemic time, nothing seems easy. But I hope this super simple, really easy and wonderfully tasty Sunny Golds with Bacon Pasta Sauce Recipe will cheer you up.

Pasta in Italy

First of all, pasta is always a great comforting dish, which is sorely needed in these anxiety-ridden times. I remember my summer living in Italy and helping Bianca with her broken leg, making a pasta for dinner, and Bianca said she could eat the whole bowl of pasta and eat it every day!

However, in my experience with the Italians at home, I saw them carefully weighing their dried pasta before cooking, so as to not overeat as they love it so much. They are not fat.

Easy peasy.

This Sunny Golds with Bacon Pasta Sauce recipe couldn’t be easier as just a little bit of time is needed to cut the tomatoes. Literally, that is the most labor-intensive thing here.

And if you’re not a meat eater, just skip the bacon and use 2 tablespoons of olive oil instead. Although the bacon does add that wonderful smokey flavor and everything is always better with bacon, right, as long as you eat meat.

Sliced Sunny Gold tomatoes with minced garlic.
Minced garlic added to the sliced Sunny Golds.
Sliced Sunny Gold tomatoes and raw bacon ready to roast.
Sunny Golds and bacon ready to go into the oven.

Be sure to trim the bacon of any big fat chunks, as the fat will be left in your finished dish.

The Sunny Golds are so sweet and flavorful, you can do it either way, with or without the bacon. I did it both ways just this week. Because the high heat of the roasting brings out the flavor of the tomatoes even more, I know you will really enjoy this.

Here is the recipe – don’t forget to add LOVE while slicing those tomatoes!

SUNNY GOLDS WITH BACON PASTA SAUCE – serves 3 – 4

A little less than a quart of sunny gold tomatoes, washed and cut in half
3 slices of no nitrate, thick cut bacon, cut into 1/2 pieces. Remove large chunks of fat and discard.
OR use: 2 Tbs. olive oil
3 cloves of garlics, smashed or minced
1 tsp. crushed dried oregano
¾ of a pound of dried pasta
Grated Pecorino cheese
Fresh basil leaves for garnish

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

Toss the tomatoes with the bacon or olive oil (not both as the bacon will provide the fat as it cooks), garlic, dried oregano, salt and pepper in a 9” x 9” glass Pyrex baking dish and bake at 425 degrees for 15 – 20 minutes, until the bacon is cooked and the tomatoes have collapsed.

Meanwhile, boil your water for the pasta, salt liberally, preferably with coarse sea salt and cook your pasta according to the package directions, starting to check for doneness at 2 minutes less than the lesser time. You will not be cooking the pasta any more in this sauce so make sure it is done to your liking but still al dente. Drain the pasta in a colander.

Warm the bowls you will be serving the pasta in as well as the large bowl to combine it all.

When the sauce is done, remove it from the oven and toss it with the pasta in the separate warmed large bowl. Use tongs to combine. Scrape in all the juices too!

When it is thoroughly combined, serve in warmed individual bowls garnished with fresh basil and offer fresh grated pecorino and an extra pinch of LOVE.

Sunny Golds and bacon finished roasting and ready to toss with the cooked pasta.
Sunny Golds and bacon finished roasting and ready to toss with the cooked pasta.
A serving of Sunny Gold Tomatoes with Bacon Pasta Sauce on spaghetti in a white bowl.
Finished single serving!

Enjoy!!

Filed Under: Brunch, Dinner, Lunch, Meat, Pasta, Sauces Tagged With: bacon, Dinner, easy, love, pasta, sunny gold tomatoes

Best Gazpacho Recipe

August 19, 2014 by Mary 37 Comments

Four bowls of golden gazpacho garnished with diced avocado.

When I was young, I hated tomatoes. Can you believe it? How could anyone hate tomatoes? I don’t know, I’m guessing it was a whole texture issue. My mother used to grow them and I hated the smell of the plants too. Now, that smell just makes me swoon over the deliciousness that I know is coming from a plant like that. Loving tomatoes like I do now, you’d think I’d love gazpacho, BUT I can’t stand gazpacho that just tastes like you’re eating salsa. Like, excuse me but can I have chips instead of a spoon? That type of gazpacho can be so thick it can almost make you gag. Are you in agreement with me here? Now this is the best gazpacho recipe! It’s fast, easy and healthy to boot. Made with super sweet sunny gold tomatoes, it’s practically just pure pureed tomatoes, topped with some luscious avocado chunks and you have summer in a bowl!

Make this now while those sunny golds are flooding the farmers market stands and avocados are perfectly ripe and plentiful. This is super simple and so delicious. I hope you enjoy it just as much as we do. The basis of this recipe came from the August issue of Food and Wine magazine, but I have changed it up a bit – less water than they originally call for (who wants to dilute the sweetness of these tomatoes?) and more spice by including the seeds from the jalapeño. But a big thank you to Justin Chapple and Food and Wine for providing the inspiration and foundation of this wonderful summer starter dish!

GOLDEN GAZPACHO WITH AVOCADO – serves 4 – adapted from Justin Chapple and Food and Wine magazine

2 pounds yellow or orange cherry tomatoes
1 small garlic clove, crushed
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil                                                              
2/3 of a jalapeño, minced, with seeds
2 Tbs. water
Kosher salt
Fresh ground pepper
1 avocado, diced

In a food processor, puree the tomatoes, crushed garlic and jalapeño with 2 Tbs. of water. With the machine on, gradually add the olive oil until incorporated. Transfer to a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Refrigerate until chilled, about 30 minutes. Ladle the gazpacho into bowls, top with diced avocado, and serve with LOVE. The gazpacho can be made ahead and refrigerated overnight.

Filed Under: Dinner Tagged With: best gazpacho recipe, Food and Wine magazine, gazpacho garnished with avocado, Justin Chapple, sunny gold tomatoes

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Mary Frances

Mary Frances

Spread love through cooking.

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