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My days of summer have been littered with fluorescence.

Green fluorescence, to be precise.

Green fluorescence that I have electrified into cells.  Because when you play god.  When you create thunder and lightning and shoot it into poor unsuspecting adipocytes (i.e. fat cells).  Their response is to eat up any DNA that is sitting in the fluid that surrounds them.

This is what one would call “stress eating”.

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Then, after all this.  You cross your fingers.  Tap your heels together three times.  And hope for the best.  (Because really, playing god only gets you so far.)

“The best” being that all of your cells will take this DNA for a gene that you’ve tagged with a protein that will make it shimmer and shine when you hit it with a very specific wavelength of light.  Turn it into protein.  And glow.

So that when you look under the microscope in two days, all you will see is a field of green.  Bright green.  Fluorescent green.

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Some days, this works beautifully.

Some days, it does not.

Some days you turn on the microscope and realize that there are approximately only five green cells on a plate of hundreds of thousands.  And that your job, should you choose to accept it (not that you actually have a choice.  This is your job.  Choose to accept it.) is to find them.

So you look and you look.  Scrutinizing cell after cell.  (Just how green is green, again?)

Until the first wave of nausea hits.  Oh yeah.  You’ve just made yourself motion sick.  Right on.

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That’s when you hightail it out of lab.  Explaining to the postdoc you’re working with that she has two options.

You can either stay.  Keep searching.  And vomit all over the thousands of dollars worth of equipment.

Or she can “let” you call it a day.  Because both of you know that two fluorescent cells does not a sufficient or statistically significant sample size make.

By which you really mean that you’re going home whether she likes it or not.  And when you get there, you’re going to sit down to a bowl of linguine with raw tomato sauce.

Super ripe local tomatoes, oozing with juicy sweetness.  The pungent taste of fresh basil.  Laced with a hit of summer.

This is what one would call “stress eating”.

Yeah, that’s right.  You show those cells how it’s done.

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Linguine with Raw Tomato Sauce
Serves 4-6, adapted from Bittman’s How To Cook Everything Vegetarian

salt
4 LARGE tomatoes.  Preferably local.
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (I used roasted garlic infused olive oil)
2 cloves garlic, lightly smashed
1/2 cup roughly minced basil leaves
1 can black olives, sliced (my addition)
freshly ground black pepper
1 lb linguine
parmesan cheese

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it.

2. Put the tomato, garlic, olives and basil in a large bowl.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper and mash together well.

3. Cook pasta to desired consistency.  Mix together with the tomato sauce.  Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

This is my submission to I Heart Cooking Clubs, the theme of which for this week is raw foods!  It is also going to Two For Tuesdays and to Presto Pasta Nights, which is being hosted by Daphne of More Than Words!

Remember last week when I told you that I was going to be featured on the Frigidaire website…well my recipe is finally up!   I know that when I think Frigidaire, I think refrigerators and nothing else, but that is so NOT true.  They sell tons of other items, like bakeware, pots and pans, air conditioners, kitchen gadgets – the list goes on and on.  All quality stuff for really affordable prices!  Be sure to check it out, along with their other feature recipes!

Also, the end of July is fast approaching!  Be sure to send me your entries for Regional Recipes: ETHIOPIA!

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You are reading this post on Eats Well With Others at https://joanne-eatswellwithothers.com. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to the author and or owner of Eats Well With Others. All rights reserved by Joanne Bruno.
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95 Responses to Linguine with Raw Tomato Sauce

  1. Theresa says:

    This looks fantastic, and it would be a great way to use up the tomatoes and basil in my garden!

  2. Lea Ann says:

    I am finally pulling some ripe red tomatoes out of my garden. This will be on my list to make this week. As always, great photos Joanne.

  3. This is my families favouruite way with pasta in the summer. I have been spenidng the extra cash and buying heirloom tomatoes from somewhere to tide me over until local tomatoes are ripened on the vine.

  4. Beautiful Joanne…so fresh, simple and popping with flavor!

  5. This looks lovely! Looks so colorful! Bookmarked!

  6. girlichef says:

    Oh, I love the simplicity of this raw sauce…that will definitely show those cells!! Beautiful, Joanne…thanks for sharing it with Two for Tuesdays, too 😉

  7. kathy says:

    Simple Beautiful … and well deserved brake from laboratory blues

  8. congrats on your recipe being mentioned! VERY cool!

    xo Alison

  9. Pasta is my ‘go to’ stress food! Good choice with the fresh tomatoes and basil. Now I’m craving pasta for breakfast!

    Congratulations on the Frigidaire site recipe. It’s a great one!

  10. Kim says:

    Wow – pretty cool to be on the Frigidaire site! Stress food = pasta, right? I love this recipe for so many reasons. Fresh, healthy, colorful…makes you feel better about eating lots of pasta;-) Great pick for raw foods week.

  11. Giovanna says:

    I love raw sauces, especially in the summer! I have a Frigidaire double oven, maybe if you beg and plead they will give you one , I mean for the rocking recipe YOU allowed THEM to have : ) A girl can dream can’t she?

  12. elra says:

    Raw tomato sauce for pasta, that sounds very refreshing 🙂

  13. Andreas says:

    Ah, the joy of working with GFP. Those were the days. 🙂
    Pasta looks great.

  14. Dawn says:

    So fresh and easy. I love it!

  15. Daniel says:

    I absolutely love elegant and simple recipes like this. I still cannot believe how many people try to claim that they don’t have time to cook healthy food at home when there are exceptional and delicious recipes like this everywhere you look.

    Thanks for sharing yet another killer recipe Joanne!

    Dan
    Casual Kitchen

  16. So fresh and beautiful with a minimum of cooking- I love it!

  17. Eliana says:

    I love Mark Bittman’s books. Prove that simple eats can still be delicious. This looks great Joanne.

  18. A perfect, simple and tasty topping for the linguine!
    I am quite happy to be confortably seated behind my computer filling in excel cells, and not searching for green fluorescent ones… LOL

  19. There can be no more perfect way to eat fresh, local tomatoes then with a big bowl of pasta! The cure for whatever ails you. Congrats on your delicious pork chop recipe!

  20. Yosha says:

    Oh there was a delay at Frigidaire! I was wondering why I didn’t see it when you mentioned it!

    Hmm…yum recipe!

    You crazy scientists! I am not sure I got it all but I am a bit afraid to get the visual anyway. Bio is so not my thing, give me some something mechanical any day!

  21. Ameena says:

    Fresh tomatoes over pasta? I can’t think of a better thing to eat when you are stress eating. Most people turn to Snickers and Coke, so I think you can safely be excused Joanne. 🙂

    I agree with a previous poster that I am far more comfortable running excel models all day long. Me + microscopes = disaster. And confusion.

  22. Pam says:

    I adore this sauce! I make something similar, sometimes substituting mint leaves for the basil.

  23. Nadji says:

    Une recette qui me plait beaucoup.
    It looks delicious.
    See soon.

  24. Swathi says:

    Raw sauce looks awesome. congrats on recipe at Frigidaire website. Love simple tasty dishes.

  25. i like stress eating if this is what i get to eat!

  26. Elizabeth says:

    From cells under a microscope, to stress eating, to raw tomato sauce over linguini .. it’s all very logical, the way you describe it. I’m making this tonight – great way to honor The Tomato . . . thanks, Joanne!

  27. this recipe is perfect for the tomatoes and basil in my garden! thanks!

  28. Bob says:

    Good thing I never went into the same field as you, I bet the whole color blind thing would cause issues. Heh.

    The sauce looks great, awesome colors in there.

  29. Bob says:

    Hm, there was supposed to be a wink emoticon at the end of my last comment… 😉

  30. Biren says:

    This is so good and so easy! Just boil the pasta and mix the sauce…delicious!

  31. Mo Diva says:

    I LOVE! perfect summer dish!. i crave pasta when im lazy… im lazy all the time

  32. Great way to use in-season fresh tomatoes. Nice job!

  33. I love a raw tomato kind of sauce on pasta in the summer! The fresh tomato flavor and with some basil, it’s just the best.

  34. What a perfect fresh sauce!

  35. Looks so good and very colourful…nice clicks too

  36. Justin says:

    this is my kind of cooking… well, not cooking, but you know what i mean

  37. Beautiful and delicious! Glad you got out of that lab… Love the olives you added too!

  38. Pam says:

    Simple food is the best food… especially if you are stress eating.

    Congrats on making it on the Frigidaire website – WAHOO!

  39. Super Mommie says:

    So simple but so good! It’s quick and easy and delicious! Thanks.

  40. Mary says:

    It looks tempting and delicious. What kind of olives? Plain ole or a European varity? Have a great day. Blessings…Mary

  41. Simply delectable with all the fresh ingredients!

  42. Joanne, you leave me humbled… Seriously, when do you sleep. Such amazing posts, now you are entering contests (and winning)… that whole school thing you think is so important.

    Congrats on the fridg recipe posting.

    BTW, yesterday’s cookies should at least get you a date… Save the mango bacon for when you culled the herd

  43. I generally don’t like red sauces but I know I’d love this raw version!

  44. What a fresh and healthy sauce for the linguine. Congrats on getting featured at Frigidaire.

  45. Debinhawaii says:

    I have been drooling over this recipe for a while now–it looks so fresh and good—a perfect way to get some summer in your summer! 😉

    Congrats on your Frigidare feature!

  46. Just spied a Jamie Oliver recipe with a similar raw sauce – perfect for the summer – yum!

  47. Katerina says:

    Joanne I am setting all my hopes on you to find something promising regarding the fight against cancer. In the meantime, I compromise with this gorgeous pasta.

  48. Faith says:

    I’ve been dying for a pasta like this! (Seriously, I haven’t been able to get carbs out of my mind, lol!) I love the idea of a raw sauce, it looks delish!

  49. Amy says:

    Where the hell were you back when I was in High School…taking biology and hating it? You make it all sound so interesting.

    You can never ever go wrong with garden tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, and basil. It’s impossible. Perfect as a pasta sauce or piled high on bread. Shit, I miss my garden. Grrrr.

    Awesome about your mention on Frigidare! That’s quite the feather in your cap. Love the recipe you (or they?) chose to feature.

  50. tigerfish says:

    Now I don’t even have to cook the tomato sauce. I can have my favorite tomato-based pasta by mashing the tomatoes. Thanks, sweetie!

  51. Barbara says:

    This is a perfect pasta salad, Joanne. I eat it all the time! I prefer “raw” tomatoes to cooked on pasta anytime…especially in the heat of summer!

  52. Joanne,
    That looks soooo good! I need to come visit so you can teach me how to take better photographs. Mine seem to be getting worse instead of better.
    Several years ago, I stood on my desk to change a big fluorescent light bulb. Without thinking, I grabbed both ends at the same time and shocked the crap out of myself all the way down to my knees. So my question for you, did that count and did I kill any fat cells??? LOL Probably just brain cells 🙁 ~LeslieMichele

  53. Love it! My appetite finally came back for the first time since Saturday thank goodness. Doctor thinks I just stressed myself out like no one’s business which has caused all my issues. Greaaaaaaat.

  54. Julie says:

    i feeeeeeeeeeel like you have a good gazpacho recipe. i hope you do. if you do. you MUST share with me. like now.

  55. Raina says:

    Great recipe! It sounds scrumptious…definitely good stress relief:)

  56. Suman Singh says:

    love this easy and delicious pasta dish..looks splendid!

    And yes there is an award waiting for you at my blog, please come and collect the same..thanks!

  57. I’m not grooving on pasta (sigh, I have to have the gf kind) right now, but I think I’ll sample these flavors with quinoa, my newest obsession. Isn’t it amazing how different and lively a raw tomato sauce tastes? Thanks for linking up with Two for Tuesday.

  58. love fresh and simple paste dish

  59. Louise says:

    Hmmm you lost me with the science conversation but I definitely speak “tomato” … love the sauce and the photography is beautiful. thanks for stopping by “Satisfied”- Louise

  60. wow Joanne, it takes ten minutes to scroll down to make a comment hahaha but yeah you have a lot of comments down here!
    congratulations on being on Frigidaire website.. woot woot! and isay this over and over but yeah how do you really manage your time? do you ever get to sleep> haha!

  61. I’d say the same as the previous comment.

    I almost drooled to see your pictures here. Fresh!

    Anyway congrats for being featured on Frigdaire website!!!

  62. Dana says:

    More and more I’m just thinking I should quit this cooking crap and just head to your place for dinner. Oh wait. You live across the country. Well, come to my place! I have an oven! I actually have two ovens… Anyway, since we really don’t get good tomatoes here, I probably won’t be making this dish, but a girl can dream.

  63. grace says:

    joanne, one; cells, zero. 🙂
    awesome light meal–gotta love those fresh maters!

  64. Your post made me laugh so hard… At first, I was completely confused by the whole thing. Oh stress eating! I’m terrible when it comes to that. I have no will power whatsoever!

    I’ve been making this dish a lot recently with the tomatoes we have in our garden. It’s a fantastic and refreshing recipe.

  65. It’s been ages since I last played with gfp-tagged stuff. Fun and pretty times =) gorgeous looking pasta, so refreshing!

  66. janet says:

    This recipe screams delicious summertime! Perfect after a farmer’s market pick me up! 🙂

  67. Lori says:

    A raw tomato sauce adds just the fresh flavor that a heavy pasta needs in the summer. This looks wonderful. We have plenty of tomatoes around and this may be today’s lunch.

  68. abigail says:

    perfect summer time meal.

  69. Marisa says:

    I love raw tomato sauces, especially in summer. You should try raw grated zucchini as well – it’s delish.

  70. Kelsey says:

    its like a raw salsa almost!! yum yum 🙂

    yay the recipe is finally up!! im gonna go check it out! thats so exciting girl <3

  71. RamblingTart says:

    Good for you going home when you aren’t feeling well!! I have not had raw tomato sauce yet this summer and don’t know what I’ve been thinking!! I will have to remedy that tonight! 🙂 Hope you feel better soon!

  72. Love the raw tomato idea on pasta! What a paradigm shift for me, as I always COOK my tomato sauce. Thanks for the post! The pasta sounds delicious. How can it not…with fresh, local tomatoes and sweet basil!?! 🙂

  73. Chris says:

    Only you could start off with projectile vomiting and end up with sauce a gorgeous looking plate!

    Maybe Frigidaire can hook you up with a functioning oven? 😉

  74. theUngourmet says:

    Wow! I don’t know how you could eat after all of that! This does look fantastically fresh and delicious and I do love the addition of the olives!

  75. theUngourmet says:

    Oh yes, and congrats on the Frigidaire recipe! 😉

  76. Ben says:

    It sounds like you have a very interesting job. But once you start getting motion sick, it’s time to go home! I would too, lol.

    I love the raw tomato sauce, those tomatoes look amazing.

  77. Cristie says:

    Beautiful pasta! I do wish my tomatoes would turn red. Sorry about the green, sick episode. Do hope that won’t be happining again. Congrats on the Frigidaire site 🙂

  78. Carolyn Jung says:

    When it’s hot, and heirlooms are in season in all their beauty, there’s nothing finer than a raw tomato sauce. Simply splendid!

  79. Martha (MM) says:

    Summertime perfection! 🙂

  80. Shannon says:

    ha, i don’t miss the days i spent in the dark room looking at the scope! nice recipe on frigidaire 🙂

  81. spooned for 4 hours. and then kisses on my nose and cheeeks…then he wouldn’t let me get up until we kissed. 3x.

  82. Only you could make stress eating sound this tasty 🙂

  83. What’s better than summertime tomatoes? Nothing, I say!

  84. Perfect summer eating and the photos are divine!

  85. Cynthia says:

    This looks super healthy! I love the pictures – they look awesome!

  86. Monet says:

    Often I think that pasta is too heavy for these warm summer months…but clearly I am wrong. This is a great way to highlight the bounty of the season, and it seems like a very light and refreshing meal. I am just loving your blog, and your sweet comments on mine mean a lot to me!

  87. Esi says:

    Love the raw sauce! I’m all about the less cooking this summer.

  88. Little Inbox says:

    Hmm….this is a beautiful pasta! Love it!

  89. Bonnie says:

    Nothing is better than summertime tomatoes and pasta. The cooler the meal the better. Great recipe. I wish my tomatoes would ripen.

  90. Joanne, as a retired electron microscopist, I totally GOT your article! lol yep, oh those lovely green cells! I also adore the idea of raw tomatoes with HOT pasta! Very cool! Thanks for sharing this on the two for tuesday recipe blog hop! 🙂 alex@amoderatelife

  91. I’ll never think about “stress eating” the same way again. I have a lab this coming semester for the first time in 3 years so I’ll probably be able to relate sometime soon. And the pasta looks delicious. Tomatoes are one of the greatest things about summer.

  92. That looks gorgeous – totally beautiful photos. This is such a great dish, and I loved your addition of roasted garlic and black olives.
    Sue

  93. Karen says:

    This is a perfect summer pasta dish!

  94. Kerstin says:

    Love your lab notes 🙂 This is the perfect sauce to make on a hot summer day – yum!

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