#potluckfriendly

SO it's NYE and our friends are having a small gathering at their house.  It's a potluck dinner and having to work today, I was going to make a simple pasta dish that have been tried & true to perfection.  The night before I took out the tomatoes, cut up garlic and started marinating the tomatoes in olive oil, salt & pepper-- the idea is to come home and cook the pasta, then quickly mix in the pre-marainated tomatoes and head off to welcome 2014! Now only one thing got in my way---- I came home and found out that Sam couldn't defeat his inner demons and somehow crawled his way to the counter and ate the tomatoes....SO with only an hour to spare and within that hour i ALSO have to walk sam, buy new ingredients, AND cook, I opted for a simple quick fix to make the dish happen, not sacrifice taste, and still make it to the party on time

REPLACING the tomatoes that's been marinaded over night-- i went to the market and picked up a can of diced tomatoes. Once home, i drained out all the liquid, pour the tomatoes into the blender, chopped up 1/2 of a garlic, sprinkle salt/pepper/sugar into the blender, and pour olive oil (About 1/4 cup) into the mixture. PULSE blend it (do NOT keep the blender running or else it will become a watery mixture and not pesto-like) until garlics are chopped up and oil is completely mixed in. Should be a paste-like consistency (hence pesto!)

Meanwhile, the pasta was cooking on the stove...

*TIP- I learn this from my friend's mom who makes AMAZING pho (Vietnamese noodle soup)!!  When cooking noodles, make sure salt + oil are added to the water and water is BOILING before dumping in the noodles. Then, after noodles been cooked about 1/2 way through (still a bit hard) remove the pot from the stove top and let it sit for about 10 mins. By doing so, the noodles are cooked by the residual heat in the pot and it will not be overcooked or overly soft, a true Al Dente!

Once noodles are cooked, drain and let it cook down a bit. Meanwhile, cut up grape tomatoes half way, then wash and dry fresh basil leaves. Cut basil leaves into smaller pieces

When noodles are slightly cooler and drained, put into serving bowl and pour in tomato paste mixture. Toss and mix well, then sprinkle grape tomatoes and fresh basil in, mix again.

And THAT'S IT!! YOU ARE READY! This dish is delicious, healthy, and NO SAUCE dripping around which makes it super potluck friendly!