"Oh, the summer night Has a smile of light And she sits on a sapphire throne."

Winter is a time for the intellect, for introspection and thoughtfulness. Ssummer though, is a time for the senses and for play, long afternoons of blissful indolence and sweaty nights full of dancing. This recipe requires little effort, minimal time in front of a hot stove and yields a dish that will make you howl at that big summer moon.

I generally don't like summer pasta. Usually it's some kind of picnic salad thing, over dressed with goopy, hyper-tart vinaigrettes, brimming with metallic tasting olives and chalky beans. More often than not, this stuff gets pushed around the plate and then scraped into the bin - an ignominious fate for such a noble starch. My solution is to ditch the very idea of pasta salad there is no need to alter the basic palette of sauce just because it gets warm out. Don't try and make pasta what it is not, play to its strengths - warm, comforting taste, a slightly toothy texture and its ability to soak up sauce.

To this end, I'd like to introduce you all to My Favorite Summer Pasta. There is actually very little cooking in this dish. It places 3 amazing summer tastes in a room and lets them get down. I mean honestly, it is tough to mess up the combo of tomatoes, basil and cheese, especially when they are distilled down into some crazy Platonic realm of ideas, passion and pasta.

Equipment:

• You will need a LARGE bowl. When I have made this dish for 20+ people, I've used a 5 gallon bucket. Seriously, get a really big bowl.
• A lid or cover for the bowl
  

Ingredients
2-1/2 to 3 lbs fresh summer tomatoes - either romas or good beefsteaks.
1 to 1-1/2 lbs Brie
1 big bunch Basil, roughly chopped
1/2 large Onion, roughly chopped
3 cloves Garlic, minced
1/8 cup red wine vinegar
1-1/2 cups good olive oil
1 - 2 lbs long, wide pasta (fettuccine, linguine, tagliatelle, papardelle)

NOTES:

• These measurements are fairly approximate.What you are going for is a fairly high sauce to pasta ratio with tomatoes comprising most of the sauce.
  
• Cooking Pasta: ALWAYS cook pasta in salted water. Not sea salty, but certainly enough that you can notice it. NEVER rinse your pasta after draining it. This washes away all the starch and renders the noodles incapable of absorbing flavors or sauce.
  

1. Chop your tomatoes roughly - quartered if using romas. Squeeze out the seeds as much as you can and toss them. What you are discarding is mostly water which will only dilute the flavah. Place the chopped tomatoes in the large bowl.
2. Add the basil, onion and garlic to the tomatoes.
   
3. Remove all the rind from the brie and tear it into 1/2 inch chunks. Add this to the bowl.
   
4. Add the vinegar and the oil. Toss everything to mix it all up. You want a bunch of oil. Cover this and let it sit in the sun for at least 2 hours, ideally for 4, giving it a stir every 45 minutes or so.
   
5. When you are ready to eat, cook the pasta to al dente. Toss the pasta with the sauce mixture thoroughly, until the cheese has melted and coated the noodles. Finish with salt and roughly ground pepper. Serve immediately.

That's it. The longer you let the sauce sit, the more intense the flavors. The secret to this recipe is the freshness of the ingredients. Don't cut corners on the tomaters. For a slightly lower cal and lighter tasting version of this, you can use fresh mozzarella instead of brie.