Summer Pasta

Downie’s version may be the original pasta alla checca, with its fennel seeds, olives, parsley, basil, capers, and an insistence on plum or cherry tomatoes, but my version, with tomatoes, oil, garlic, and basil, we’ll just call “summer pasta” and leave it at that.

Raw tomatoes and basil are chopped and added to cooked pasta; hot, garlic-flavored olive oil is poured over the dish to warm it all through. It is essential that you use firm, ripe tomatoes for this dish. The recipe feeds