Lately I haven't cooked or eaten much food, due to my kitchen being under construction, and by that I mean I moved, and my new kitchen is way too small and I have no place to put, like, anything. Anything requiring too many pots and pans is not really doable, as there is no where for them to go. Even this was hard enough- I used my square foot of counter space to carefully pile and stack my veggies while I chopped the next one. Then, I had to plug the blender in, and the power went out. So.. yeah, you could say I'm slowly readjusting. 

Anyways, this summer I visited my parents and my mom cooked for me! I think this is my aunt's recipe, but its more like, guidelines or a template of a recipe. She calls it "cold sauce over hot pasta", and it's really perfect for summer, especially when it's super hot out, as it was the day my mom made it for me. It is essentially some chopped tomatoes, and whatever fresh veggies are in your fridge. Most any would be good, but I'd say that you would want at least tomatoes and fresh herbs, along with maybe 1 more additional veggie. I used shallots, peppers, chiles, scallion, parsely and basil along with cherry tomatoes and avocado. So yeah, whatever you have, literally. 

Also I made parmesan dust! It's my new favorite thing ever, and it's like I got parmesan cheese back. It's embarrassingly easy to make, and stores in the fridge for weeks. It's great for a pasta with no real red sauce, like this one. But it's also great for rice, plain sautéed veggies, sandwiches, salads, your cereal, shampoo.. 

Cold Sauce/Hot Pasta

1 lb spaghetti

2 pints cherry tomatoes, or 3-4 large very ripe tomatoes, chopped

3-4 scallions or chive, sliced

1 bell pepper, diced

1 small chile, or 1 teaspoon chili flakes

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1 bunch fresh basil, chiffonade

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 avocado, diced

1 teaspoon lemon or lime juice

2 teaspoons olive oil 

Parmesan dust:

1/3 cup almonds

Zest of 1/2 a lemon

2 tablespoons nooch

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

Make the parmesan dust by combining all the ingredients in a blender and turn on high for 1-2 minutes until a fine dust is achieved. Store in a small sealed container in the fridge for up to 2-3 weeks.

Fill a large pot with water and bring to boil. Drop in pasta and cook according to package directions, about 7-8 minutes. Drain and set aside. 

Combine your tomato mixture and sprinkle with salt, pepper, olive oil and lemon juice. I like to add the avocado on top of everything, so you can just leave it out of the mixture and scatter some on top of the bowls. Serve spaghetti in large bowls, and ladle some tomato mixture on top of each bowl. Sprinkle a liberal amount of parmesan dust on top of each bowl and top with chopped avocado.