Pappardelle with Fresh Tomatoes, Mozzarella, & Basil

I have a super simple pasta recipe for you today, courtesy of our wedding menu.

Since we loved the food at our wedding, I decided a couple years ago that it would be fun to recreate one item from our wedding menu for each anniversary.

For our first anniversary, I attempted to recreate our wedding cake (amaretto cake with lavender icing), and for our second anniversary, I made tomato, corn & avocado stacks with basic shallot vinaigrette.

This year I decided to recreate the simple papparadelle with fresh tomatoes, mozzarella & basil.  Life is hectic for us right now with both of us living in different cities, so a simple recipe was exactly what we needed.

This morning we listened to a segment on the radio about how similar couples become after many years together.  Over time, they begin to mirror each other's speech patterns and body language, and even develop their own ways of communicating that others may not understand.

I'm already noticing signs of this with me and Adam. Even though we've only been married for 3 years, we've been together for 10.  Last year, we got each other almost identical anniversary cards.  (They each had a little boy and little girl kissing. I guess we both feel like we've grown up together, which we sort of have.)

This year, we wrote very similar messages in our cards.  The coming months will be difficult for us, for lots of different reasons, and we're both struggling with uncertainty and fear about what comes next.

However, we're also finding tremendous comfort in the fact that, whatever happens, we're in this together.  For better or for worse, in good times and in bad, for always.

There's lots of comfort to be found in the everyday routines we share together, too.  This simple pasta dish we shared Friday night after a long week apart was definitely one of them.

I hope you enjoy it too!

Pappardelle with Fresh Tomatoes, Mozzarella, & Basil

Ingredients:

12 ounces papparadelle pasta

1 tablespoon olive oil 

2 roma tomatoes, sliced

1 can san marzano tomatoes

8 ounces fresh mozzarella, cubed

handful of fresh basil, thinly sliced

Directions:

Cook pasta according to package directions, ensuring that you add plenty of salt to the pasta water. 

Meanwhile, add olive oil to a saucepan over medium heat. Add fresh tomatoes and cook for about 5 minutes, or until tomatoes are starting to fall apart.  (If you're a garlic lover, you can add a clove of minced garlic or a pinch of garlic powder here.) 

Add canned tomatoes to the pan. Continue cooking on low for anywhere from 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Taste and add salt and pepper as needed. 

When the pasta is ready, use a slotted spoon to add pasta directly to the tomato sauce. (A little pasta water is a good thing! It will then out the tomato sauce and adds a little starchiness which makes a lovely sauce.)  Add the cubed mozzarella and stir to combine.  The mozzarella will melt and become a little stringy. Embrace it!

Sprinkle with fresh basil and enjoy with a glass of wine.

Morning Wild Photography