Last Wednesday, I cooked this lovely little pasta dish from modified from a Real Simple recpie. I will have to say, it is one of the best I have made in quite a long time thanks largly to the fresh ingredients I purchased at Union Square’s Greenmarket. In fact, the entire meal except for the pasta (and salt and pepper) are local products.

I ended up buying fusilli pasta which was just the right consistency for the sauce as it did not seem to make the dish heavier. What I really liked about this recipe is how simple the sauce was to make, blend together basil and oil oil. I didn’t find it necessary to strain the sauce. It was easier to make then pesto and dairy-free. The scent of the fresh basil was incredible. And, I had enough leftover basil that I have an entire container of sauce to use for my lunches this week.

Instead of goat cheese, I used a local sheep’s cheese as that was what the Greenmarket cheese-monger had available. It was a harder cheese, but I just grated up a 1/4th of a pound. It melted perfectly into the sauce and was not as salty as goat cheese could have been. For an extra kick, I tossed in some salted, fresh grape tomatoes and extra bail leaves.

On the side, we have a fresh kalamata olive bread. Although quite delicious, I found the crust very hard to cut and as a result had some near knife accidents. To top it all off, the Channing Daughter’s Due Uve wine from the Montuak winery. Maybe a bit dark of a red wine for summer, but it was lovely.

If you have an overabundance of fresh basil or are looking for a great summer pasta, give this one a try. It is simple but rich and satisfying.