Caitlin & Vix's Spaghetti with Green Stuff

Author: Judy Blume
Book: Summer Sisters
Difficulty rating: Harry Potter
Deliciousness rating: Outstanding

"She was in the kitchen with Caitlin arguing with the Chicago Boys over whether or not to mix the tomato sauce with the spaghetti before it was served. She and Caitlin wanted the sauce on the side, with basil and parsley from the garden, but Daniel said, 'No green stuff in our pasta! Put it on yours after it's on your plate.'

'I don't want mine drowning in your Ragu,' Caitlin told him." (Blume 129)

Did you miss our review of Summer Sisters? Check out the first Summer Sisters Day post here!

Caitlin' and Vix's Spaghetti with Green Stuff

Ingredients:

• Thin spaghetti
• A drizzle of basil-infused olive oil
• 1 shallot
• Olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic, cut into slivers
• 5 cloves of roasted garlic
• 5.5 cups of excellent fresh tomatoes, peeled and chopped (we had some frozen from last summer)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 clove of garlic, minced very small or put through a garlic press
• 1/3 cup of basil, chopped
• 1/3 cup of parsley, chopped

Directions:

1. Boil a ton of water in a large pot for pasta. Add salt -- enough to make it taste like seawater. Boil spaghetti according to package directions while preparing the sauce. We drizzled the pasta with basil-infused olive oil that we had around to keep it from sticking, but you can of course use regular olive oil.

2. Mince shallot. Cry a gajillion tears because those shallots STING.

3. Mash the roasted garlic with a fork. (To roast garlic: buy pre-peeled garlic and mix with a bunch of olive oil. Put it on a cookie sheet and roast at 325 degrees. You can do a whole bunch at once and freeze it!)
[Jenne's note: if you don't already have roasted garlic, just leave it out and add another clove or two of slivered garlic and half a teaspoon of sugar.]

4. Heat 2 tbs. of olive oil in a pan on medium-high heat. (We used a wok.)

5. Sauté roast garlic and slivered garlic in the pan for about 3-5 minutes. Don't let the garlic get too brown.

6. Add tomatoes.

7. Reduce over medium-high heat, about 5 minutes, till it has thickened slightly.

8. Put in minced fresh garlic.

9. Cook for just a minute.

10. Add salt and pepper to taste.

11. Turn off heat, mix in 1/3 cup each of Italian parsley and basil.

12. Serve on blue and white plates with the sauce on the side.

Did it measure up? 
Okay...we weren't totally authentic to Summer Sisters in this recipe. If we had followed the book, we would have used Ragu instead of making our own tomato sauce. But this was fun and definitely tastier.

Miko: I had never had this type of flash-cooked tomato sauce on my spaghetti before! All the marinara I've ever had has been the everlastingly stewed type. I love fresh tomatoes, so this sauce tasted AMAZEBALLS to me. And so summery!

Blume, Judy. Summer Sisters. New York: Bantam Dell, 1998.