Everyday Food Linguine with Tapenade, Tomatoes, and Arugula

I love the summer months when fresh fruit and vegetables are readily available. My two boys absolutely adore tomatoes and will eat them straight out of the fridge. A close second to their love of tomatoes, is pasta. They will eat pretty much any pasta dish that they try. During the summer when tomatoes are easily found at my local stores I try to cook as many pasta dishes incorporating them as I can. A recent issue of Everyday Food magazine had a recipe for linguine with tapendade, tomatoes, and arugula, that looked like something that my family would love.

I was unable to find tapenade at any of the three stores I visited in my area, so I made a major substitution. I replaced the tapenade with a combination of bruschetta and anchovy paste. I was able to find all remaining ingredients at my local grocery store and made no other modifications. This recipe goes together very quickly, with the majority of the time spent cooking the pasta. In total the time from prep to table is approximately 20 minutes.

This recipe tasted great the same day it was made. My husband took the leftovers the next day to work and when re-heated the arugula became tough. I would recommend eating this dish the day it was made, or adding the greens table-side if expecting leftovers. Additionally, make sure to mince the parsley adequately. The recipe states to chop the parsley, but my husband and I felt that the pieces were a little too big. My two boys loved this dish, especially the tomatoes, which they picked out happily. This would be a great dish to serve at a dinner party when fresh tomatoes were in season.

This recipe is currently not available on-line, but can be found in a recent issue of Everyday Food magazine (I respect copyright and do not re-print magazine recipes). I can't find the exact issue number, but if I discover it at a later date, I will post.