Summer Pasta and National Lampoon's Vacation

Light but satisfying dinner ideas sometimes run thin when the heat of the summer months weighs down on me. I'm more of a cooler weather type of guy so when its in the upper 80s and humid, the only two places you'll find me are in the pool or inside with the air conditioner going! Fresh basil and freshly grown tomatoes can be found year round now but the summer months are by far the best time to use them. Since the two go together like peanut butter and jelly, I wanted to make a quick and easy pasta dish using them as my key flavors - along with some fresh mozzarella. This pasta dish screams summertime for me so this week I'm choosing a movie that does the same, National Lampoons Vacation.

1 pint of grape or cherry tomatoes
12 fresh basil leaves
1 8oz fresh mozzarella ball
1 medium sized shallot (sliced)
2 cloves of garlic (Minced)
1 teaspoon of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of dried Italian spices
A pinch of red pepper flakes
Olive oil and Balsamic Vinegar
1 box of Penne Pasta
Fresh Parmesan cheese for grating

Fill a large pot with water and season with a generous amount of salt and preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Cut the tomatoes in half and place them on a baking or grilling sheet along with our shallot. Drizzle a little bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegar over top of the tomatoes (just enough to coat them all) and season with a pinch of kosher salt, black pepper, the teaspoon of sugar, the Italian seasonings, and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Toss everything together and place them in the oven for about 10-12 minutes.

By now your pasta water should be boiling or close to a boil. Drop your pasta into the boiling water and cook according to the boxes specifications. Take your fresh basil leaves and chiffonade them into thin cuts. The recipe calls for about 12 leaves but if you ask me you can never have too much basil so feel free to use more of less.

Set the sliced basil aside for now and cut your fresh mozzarella ball into small chunks. No need to be exact on size but you want to make them on the smaller side so they melt quickly once they hit the warm pasta and the tomatoes.

Your tomatoes should just be about ready to come out of the oven. Set them down on a heat proof surface and add the minced garlic over top of the roasted tomatoes. Gently toss them together and place them back in the oven just for another 3 to 4 minutes, just to cook off the raw garlic flavor. Once the garlic has been roasted, you can remove the tomatoes from the oven for good and drain your penne pasta once it's cooked.

In a large serving bowl - add the mozzarella, freshly sliced basil, and the roasted tomatoes and shallots. Stir everything together, sprinkle some freshly grated Parmesan cheese over top for an added flavor and dinner is served! A nice loaf of crusty Italian bread never hurt anything either! Some of my favorite flavors or summer are in this dinner so I wanted to share with you all my time favorite summertime movie! The classic 1983 comedy National Lampoon's Vacation. One of the funniest films you'll find and it never fails to make me laugh no matter how many times I've seen it. 

In today's age, The Griswold's are a national treasure and their crazy adventures are known to just about everyone. In the fist installment in the franchise, Clark W. Griswold Jr (Chevy Chase) becomes fixated on the idea of taking his family across the country on a road trip to visit the theme park Wally World. While the rest of his family doesn't see the allure of driving several hundred miles when they could just fly there, Clark refuses and soon piles his wife Ellen(Beverly D'Angelo), his son Rusty(Anthony Michael Hall), and his daughter Audrey (Dana Barron) into their station wagon and head out onto the holiday road.

Like most things that Clark envisions in his head, they never quite work out the way he hopes. Their good old fun filled family vacation turns out to have more speed bumps and detours than Clark could have imagined. Some of the funniest scenes take place when Ellen insists they take a little detour to visit her cousin Catherine (Miriam Flynn) and her eccentric husband Eddie (Randy Quaid) at their dysfunctional homestead.

National Lampoon's Vacation is truly a classic American comedy that has kept audiences laughing for 30 years and shows no sign of loosing any of its appeal. I'm sure 99% of you have seen this movie at least once but I think you'll agree it's one that never seems to get old! I hope you enjoy this weeks film and flick combo. Here is the original trailer for National Lampoon's Vacation.