Spaghetti with Strawberries, Tomato and Balsamic

By zboni

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon grape seed oil
• 1 1/2 cups (approximately 1 pint) fresh strawberries, large berries cut in half, small ones left whole
• 2 tablespoons good-quality balsamic vinegar
• 2 cups peeled whole San Marzano tomatoes
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pound good-quality spaghetti
• Pasta water (see below)

Details

Servings 4

Preparation

Step 1

1. Add the grape seed oil and strawberries to a 10-inch skillet. Turn on the heat to medium. Cook the strawberries until tender—the sides will become transparent.
2. Bring a large pot of salted water (see below) to a boil.
3. Stir the vinegar into the strawberries and reduce by half. The sauce will appear syrupy. Use your hands to squeeze and break up the tomatoes directly into the skillet. Add the salt and pepper and stir to combine. Lower the heat to a simmer.
4. Add the spaghetti to the boiling water and cook according to the package directions. Use a wire-mesh skimmer or tongs to remove the spaghetti from the pot and place them directly into the skillet. Stir to coat the spaghetti with the sauce.
5. Serve immediately.
Instructions
Seasoning the water with salt is an important part of my “making pasta” philosophy. I believe that each component of a dish that’s cooked separately needs to be seasoned separately. When the pasta begins to cook in salted water and releases its starch, it produces yet another ingredient, pasta water. There are many recipes in this book where I ask for the addition of this starchy water to the sauce. Adding it ensures a good marriage between the pasta and the sauce. When cooked pasta is added to the sauce, it will absorb the extra pasta water, not the sauce. The sauce will then coat the pasta.
(Note: I think that it’s important to use a wire-mesh skimmer or tongs to remove pasta from the pot. When wet pasta is added directly into the sauce, both components join to become the one dish.)