Spaghetti with Garlic, Tomato, Basil, and Beurre Tomate

This is one of my all-time favorite dishes in summer, when tomato and basil are abundant and I can also usually find really good garlic at the farmers’ market. Freshness is everything here, but the very concept of the sauce is also gratifying, and delicious. I’ve been making a version of this since I read about it in an obscure paperback cookbook in 1984. At the time, I hadn’t heard of fresh basil, so I used dry, assuming that’s what the recipe called for, and still it was good enough to ma