When using fresh ingredients, sometimes the least you do to them, the better. Fresh ingredients don’t need a lot to bring out their flavor…they already are full of flavor. The job of cooking is to bring out the full flavor of the ingredients and it’s best when done in simple ways such as this simple sauté of zucchini and tomatoes that takes minutes to cook.

Serve this over your favorite pasta or enjoy it as a side dish and scoop up these flavorful morsels with a piece of crusty bread. I was even eating it cold out of the fridge! It was that good!

Ingredients

About 2 dozen grape or cherry tomatoes – quartered

2 small zucchini – cut in thin half moon shapes

1 large clove garlic – finely chopped

Pinch of red pepper flakes

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil – or enough to cover the bottom of the pan

1/2 – 1  cup of chicken or vegetable broth

Spoonful of tomato puree

Slivered fresh basil

Season with salt and pepper to taste

Pasta of your choice

Instruction

Place a medium to large skillet over medium heat. Add oil and heat until hot but not smoking.

Add the zucchini and cook until tender (about 2 minutes or so).

Add half the garlic, and the pinch of pepper flakes and cook for about 30 seconds until the garlic begins to color and quickly follow with the tomatoes and a splash of broth. Cook for an additional minute or just until the tomatoes begin to wilt.

Season and remove the vegetables from the pan and set aside.

In the meantime cook the pasta in boiling water according to package directions. Drain and set aside.

Return the skillet to the heat, add enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan, the remaining garlic, a teaspoon of tomato paste and stir.

Add about a half cup of broth, stirring to incorporate the tomato paste until you have a rich sauce. Add the pasta, stir to incorporate, season and remove from the heat.

Add pasta to a bowl or individual plates. Top with the vegetables and the basil.