one lovely red vine ripened tomato..

I'll be out the next few nights, so there was no point doing a food shop. I just had to make do with what i had at home. Thankfully i had one bright red, perfectly ripe tomato.. still attached to it's green stalk..

Tonight's dinner:

ingredients:

one vine ripened tomato (only buy these.. they smell divine) 

lemon rind

one clove of garlic (two if you like.. 3 if you're like my friend who is a garlic freak!)

a table spoon of baby capers (rinsed if they are in salt)

olive oil

pasta* - enough for one person (i used curly fettucine, which probably has a fancy italian name too)

freshly ground pepper

sprinkle of sea salt

freshly grated parmesan 

bring water to boil in a large saucepan and add pasta (cook according to the instructions on the packet)

while the pasta is cooking, chop the tomato and drain off / squeeze out a bit of the excess juice

cut a very thin slice or two of rind off a lemon, and chop it up very finely

slice the clove(s) of garlic very thinly.. it is better sliced rather than crushed for this dish

chop the baby capers roughly 

empty the pasta into a colander and set aside 

place the empty saucepan back on the stove... add olive oil - enough to nearly cover the bottom of the pan.. (sorry not good with measurements..) 

heat the oil (medium heat should be fine after cooking the pasta)

add the garlic, capers and lemon rind and a small amount of the chopped tomato to the pan and stir to keep from sticking.. 

when the garlic seems to be cooked a bit, add the pasta back in and stir through. 

add the rest of the chopped tomato and stir through gently so that the tomato is warmed but not cooked

remove and serve with a lot of freshly ground pepper, a sprinkle of sea salt and the parmesan 

*pasta comes in all shapes and sizes. Try different kinds. Don't just stick to spaghetti.. for this dish the curly fettucine holds tomato and oil really well.