Well, hello! I am sure a lot of you are enjoying a day off today and I think I should preface this post by thanking all the individuals both past and present that have served our country, thank you kindly.

I posted this image on Instagram and had emails asking for a recipe. I cook a lot more than the average bear and my husband thinks I should be food blogging, but I admittedly don’t know how that would work since most things I make I don’t ever measure so I wouldn’t know how to translate that into a recipe. I also usually cook in a frenzy of hunger with a bit of vino thrown in, so again, I don’t know how that would translate. This dish however is pretty goof proof and the measurements can be fiddled with, you’d be hard pressed to come out with a bad result so I thought it might be time to try to share. The dish is roasted checca, which basically is a combo of chopped tomatoes, garlic and basil. In traditional checca those ingredients are uncooked but I always like mine sauteed with a little olive oil, but I digress. Checca is perfect topped on spaghetti, but you can also top it on toasted crostini for a most delicious appetizer, or if you want to it works perfect topped on fish or chicken breasts (and so much more). The ease and versatility of this dish makes it a summer standard in my book (when the tomatoes and basil are oh, so delicious).

//Ingredients//

One carton of organic cherry tomatoes (you can sub roma tomatoes about 6)

4 cloves of garlic (or more if you love your garlic)

Olive oil (use the good stuff, it’s so worth it)

Sea salt

(optional) Pepper

A handful of fresh basil leaves

//Prep//

Cut your tomatoes in quarters

slice or dice your garlic (I prefer a more rustic cut so I slice)

Cut your basil leaves in strips

Mix your tomatoes and garlic with 1 tbls to 2 tbls of olive oil

Heat oven to 350 F

On a baking sheet spread out your tomato, garlic and olive oil mixture

Sprinkle on your sea salt

(optional) add a couple of turns of black cracked pepper

Cook for about 15-20 minutes or until tender add the basil leaves last 5 minutes of cooking (make sure your garlic is not over browning/burning and that your tomatoes don’t get mushy!

That’s it! Your checca should be full of fragrance and flavor, your tomatoes soft but not mushy and infused with the garlic which should have taken on a nice toasted flavor, the basil will add a nice kick. Now go ahead and toss it with your pasta of choice, add it to your toasted crostini, your frozen pizza’s, scrambled eggs, gosh I could go on and on, but really I am just blabbering now. This dish is one of those, you know where you do hardly anything and your friends and family think you are some sort of culinary genius. Revel in it.

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