🍅 Tomato & Basil Pasta – Cooking with Candice Style

Simple, Fresh & So Ridiculously Good

Because sometimes the best meals come from throwing a few things in a pan, sipping wine, and pretending you're cooking in a rustic Italian villa with a view of the hills. 🌿🍷

🛒 Ingredients (Serves 4-ish):

• • 1 big package of sweet cocktail tomatoes (cuties preferred)

• • 1 huge bunch of fresh basil (you can never have too much)

• • 4 cloves of fresh garlic, thinly sliced like you're on a cooking show

• • Olive oil (be generous, you’re in Italy now)

• • Fresh homemade fettuccine (recipe here – because you're extra like that)

• • Reserved pasta water (aka liquid gold)

• • Salt & fresh pecorino cheese to finish

👩‍🍳 Directions:

• • Bring a big pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Like, ocean-level salty.

• • In a large pan (big enough to toss the pasta later), pour in a generous glug of olive oil and add your thinly sliced garlic.

• • Let it cook gently for a few minutes—until your kitchen smells like heaven. Stir it so it doesn’t burn. (Burnt garlic = sadness.)

• • Add your halved or quartered cocktail tomatoes. Watch them sizzle. Add salt—it makes the tomatoes taste like tomatoes.

• • Stir gently for about 5 minutes while sipping your wine and pretending you're in a Tuscan villa.

• • Meanwhile, cook your fresh pasta for just 2–4 minutes, depending on thickness. Don't overdo it—this is not the time for soggy noodles.

• • Using tongs, transfer the pasta straight from the pot to the pan with the tomatoes. The pasta water starch clings to the noodles and makes your sauce extra silky.

• • Add a handful (or two or three) of torn fresh basil, more olive oil, a touch more salt, and a splash of pasta water if needed to loosen it up.

• • Toss it all together with love and serve immediately.

Top with fresh pecorino, pour yourself another glass of wine, and bask in your culinary brilliance. 🍝

Simple. Gorgeous. Full of flavour. And guaranteed to make you feel like you're on vacation—without ever leaving your kitchen.