My husband is a pastavore. He can live on pasta and pasta alone. That being said, he won’t touch spaghetti. He’ll eat the same marinara sauce on any other shaped noodle but he won’t touch a spaghetti noodle. Really. Flatten that noodle out a bit and he’ll eat it, no questions asked.

I can’t pick at him too much about his spaghetti phobia. It’s definitely not my favorite noodle but I have a bit of a food phobia myself: I won’t touch corn unless it’s on the cob. The second you cut it off the cob, it becomes completely inedible unless you’ve buried in a bowl of soup, a chicken pot pie, or a muffin. On the cob = pass me the butter! Off the cob = headed straight for the garbage.

This is a super quick & easy meatless dish and it’s made with husband-approved noodle shape. We’re talking from pantry-to-table in about 20 minutes, depending on how quick a water boiler your cooktop is. We also like to swap the tomatoes and basil for crispy pancetta for a creamy, eggless carbonara pasta. We’ve actually set aside our previous favorite carbonara recipe in favor of making it this way.

Buttered Linguine with Romano, Tomatoes, and Basil
1/2 lb Linguine
2 Tbsp butter, melted
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped
2 Tbsp basil, chopped/chiffonade
3/4 cup Pecorino Romano, finely grated
Salt, to taste

Cook pasta 6-8 minutes, or until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta water before draining.

Toss hot pasta in a large bowl with butter, pepper, tomatoes, basil, and cheese. Add 1/4 cup pasta water and toss to moisten. Add additional water if necessary. Salt to taste and serve immediately.

Yields: 3 servings (entree)
Source: Heavily revised from Everyday Pasta, 2007

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