Oh, yum, it’s pasta Wednesday at our house! The sauce I made consisted of three fresh tomatoes from our daughter’s garden, a can of original Rotel diced tomatoes and chiles, a dollop of tomato paste, oregano, salt, and red pepper flakes, plus sautéed mushrooms, onions, and garlic.

Since I needed to peel the tomatoes I looked up online to see if there is a way to peel them without boiling and shocking. Yes, there is! After making slits around the stem end and an X slit on the bottom, I merely put them on a paper plate and microwaved each one for 30 seconds. I was then able to grab a hold of one of the inner points of skin on the bottom of the tomato a pull a section of peel right off! So much easier than the whole blanching rigmorale. I had medium sized tomatoes. You need more or less time depending on the size of your tomato. Be sure to make all the slits because otherwise your tomato will explode all over your microwave!

I cooked the chopped, peeled tomatoes, spices, tomato paste and canned tomatoes for about half of an hour before adding the sautéed onions, garlic, and mushrooms. John added the cooked pasta to the sauce and I swirled it around and added a half cup of pasta water to finish the cooking. I served the pasta on a bed of raw kale and garnished my bowl with a drizzle of good olive oil.