When your coworker brings in a whole pile of tomatoes, places them on the common table, and begs you and your colleagues to take them off your hands, what are you to do but indulge her?

For whatever reason, my garden refuses to produce more than one full-sized tomato at a time. Every year this happens. While I can pluck handfuls of cherry and grape tomatoes from the vine every other day, I have to wait weeks and weeks for a single slicer. So I was thrilled for this unexpected bounty (seen here next to my homegrown garlic, which is still curing (though I frequently use it in its super piquant state)).

I knew what I wanted to do with these babies, too: a super simple spaghetti with garlic-infused olive oil, tomatoes, and basil. Years ago, when I was visiting a friend in Italy (about which I produced one extremely sparse — yet comprehensive — blog post), we ate out at a restaurant in Florence and I had the most mind-blowingly delicious garlicky pasta. I’m pretty sure it didn’t have any tomatoes, just lots of quality olive oil and garlic. I’ve been chasing that dragon ever since…

…and I did not find it today. Ha.

Today’s pasta was tasty, don’t get me wrong, but it did not have the intense garlicky deliciousness I was hoping for. I tempered three cloves of my garlic in olive oil, but I should’ve used more. Always use more garlic than you think you need, right?! And I’m sure my Florentine pasta used a hell of a lot more olive oil than I do/did.

Ah well. It was still a satisfying and filling summery dish. But if you’ve got any tips for a killer spaghetti aglio e olio, hit me up!