When my ex husband offered to send me to culinary school for my birthday a few years back, it sounded like fun and a great opportunity for me to finally learn how to prepare food for our parties and entertaining so I said yes.  Since I had never worked in the food industry and my mother always cooked food to eat right away, I thought maybe I could learn a thing or two about making food in advance.  The culinary school I attended did not teach us how to prepare food in advance and the biggest thing they did teach me to always try everything.  Over time, I figured out a few things on my own in how to prepare things in advance, so I thought I’d share a simple pasta and tomatoes dish that if you prepare properly, it can be made in less then 10 minutes.

I often make pasta on Monday and leave it in the refrigerator for Kelsi, especially during soccer season and when she gets home from school, she loves to make different meals for herself with it.

To prepare your pasta in advance, cook your 1 pound of pasta based on the instructions on the package, drain it, add 2 tablespoons of oil and 1 tablespoon of lemon.  Toss it all together, let it cool and place it in the refrigerator.  When you are ready to use it all you need to do is uncover it, toss it in the pan with your favorite sauce and enjoy!

Here is my prepared pasta

I chopped my garlic

I removed the flesh from the tomatoes

and chopped my tomatoes, this is very important, when chopping your tomatoes, look at the size of your pasta and try to keep everything in portion, I used mini Farfalla so I chopped everything small

I put my pan on the stove top and added the oil, then i added the tomatoes after a minute or two I added the garlic

I tossed it all together and cooked it for another minute or two

Added my pasta and red pepper flakes

added a little water, covered and warmed the pasta through

I then put some chopped Italian parsley

tossed it all together, platted it, added some grated Parmesan cheese on top…and YUM presto…you are all done!

So, for all those working moms and dads, this is the kind of stuff you can make for your family when you get home in less then 10 minutes.  You can also make this easy dish for yourself if you have an evening alone and just want a delicious meal for yourself.

Thank you for visiting my site and I hope you enjoy this recipe.  I do love comments so please feel free to leave me your comment or suggestion.  If you would like to be kept up to date with all my new recipes, I only post twice a week, please subscribe in the box listed on the top of the page “Subscribe Via Email”. You will be emailed with a link to confirm you are interested in the subscription so be sure to click on that link too.  

Thank you again ~ Patty Limatola-Tanenbaum

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