Alla Checca. Serves 4.

Made pasta alla checca for yesterday's lunch. Again, original recipe from allrecipes.com. Checca sauce is a essentially an uncooked sauce, made from tomatoes, basil, mozzarella, extra virgin olive oil, and salt and pepper.

I prepared the sauce the previous night because the recipe requires it to be marinated for up to 10 hours. The next day, just boil some pasta, drain and toss it with the sauce. Tasty pasta that requires no cooking skills!

What you need:

• 5 tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 cloves of red onion, minced
• 1/2 cup of chopped fresh basil
• 1/2 cup of olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
• 1 pound fusili or shell pasta

Combine tomatoes, garlic, red onion, basil and olive oil in a non-metal bowl.
Stir in salt, about 1/2 teaspoon, and some pepper to taste.
Mix well and cover it in plastic wrap.
Let it sit in room temperature for about 2 to 10 hours.

After 2 or 10 hours, depending on how patient you are...

Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente. Drain.
Pour sauce over hot pasta and toss. Use fusili or shell pasta because it holds the sauce better.
Top it off with grated parmesan cheese.

Very simple! Use the fresh ingredients where possible, although it is still acceptable to use canned tomatoes and dried basil. Now if only I grew my own tomatoes and basil!