My Tomato Epiphany (and Tomato-Chive-Parmesan Pasta Salad).

By tomato lover standards (if there are such standards), my garden is paltry. I hear tales of people who plant 30, 40 even 50 plants and then spend fall weekends happily canning away. (Or at least they claim they love to can – you know, 36 quarts of this, that and the other thing.)

Me? I have three plants. That’s it. And I’m going to go out on a limb here and tell you straight out: I’m okay with my three tomato plants. Frankly, I’m not much of a fresh tomato fan. (Gasp!)

I know, I know … for a gardener, this is almost shameful to admit, right?  I prefer my tomatoes in spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, chili and anything that is cooked, really. But throw a fresh tomato on my turkey burger, and I’m like “meh.” Not a total dislike, but I don’t really want it there either. (Exception: salsa.)

I’m weird like that.

However, last summer I found the PERFECT cherry tomato that I actually do like to eat fresh in pasta salads – an heirloom variety called “chocolate cherry tomato”. It’s full of flavor and a little sweeter (but not oddly sweet or anything) than a regular cherry tomato and when I tried it for the first time, I swear I had an epiphany of sorts. Now this is a fresh tomato I can eat and eat often.

I planted one chocolate cherry plant this year and it grew to about 6 feet tall – crazy big!  In fact, it completely toppled over on a particularly windy day and climbed right out of the tomato cage I bought for it, but it still produced the mother load of cherry tomatoes.

My family’s favorite way to enjoy these chocolate cherry tomatoes is an amazing “Tomato-Chives-Parmesan Pasta Salad”. (And by my familiy, I mean Teacher Man and myself. Joe, Mr. Picky Eater himself, won’t touch the stuff. Also, I realize that this is the most uninspired and non-creative name for a pasta salad ever. Please don’t judge.)

I found the recipe in an issue of Real Simple magazine a couple of years ago, adapted it slightly (basically adding more cheese, thank you very much) and I make it all year long. The best time to enjoy it, of course, is when we have a harvest of chocolate cherry tomatoes and chives from my garden.

Yum. Chives. Have I mentioned how much I love chives?

So without further ado … let me share the recipe with you:

Start by cooking one box (16 oz.) of medium shells or rotini, cooked to package directions (I often use 100% whole wheat pasta, which is what is shown in this picture.) Drain in a colander and rinse with cold water.

While the pasta is cooking, you can prep the other ingredients (or tell your husband to help you, which is what I often do).

Aren’t these chocolate cherry tomatoes (about one pint) completely gorgeous? I am in love with the darker color, almost like red wine. (Mmmm. Wine.) I will slice these in half, although the chocolate cherry tomatoes can be big, so sometimes I quarter them – it’s your call.

Next, I rinse the chives and snip them up, right over the tomatoes, using a scissors. (I usually cut away the brown tips first. Have I mentioned my undying devotion to chives?

Next, toss in at least 8 ounces of freshly grated Parmesan cheese (you can use pre-shredded to save time, but I love to take a block of good Parmesan cheese and grate it myself – it seems tastier somehow), along with 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil and kosher salt and black pepper to taste. Be generous with the salt – it really adds to the flavor of the entire salad.

And yes, I do know that I completely forgot to take a picture of the Parmesan cheese. Weird.

And behold, the finished product!  Just mix everything up and store in the refrigerator until it’s time to eat. It’s about the easiest pasta salad ever.

Simple ingredients, fresh from the garden – that’s what I love about this salad. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

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Tomato-Chives-Parmesan Pasta Salad

• 1 box (16 oz.) of medium shells or rotini, cooked to package directions and rinsed with cold water
• 1 pint of cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 bunch chives, snipped into small pieces (I use a scissors – totally easy)
• 8 oz. Parmesan cheese, shredded (or more, if you like – we love cheese so I pretty much double this!)
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl and keep cool in the refrigerator until ready to serve. (Adapted from a Real Simple recipe)