Ripe tomatoes and brie meld into this luscious, no-cook pasta sauce

Years ago, to celebrate summer tomatoes, The Post held an annual contest called Top Tomato, where readers were invited to submit their best tomato rec...

Years ago, to celebrate summer tomatoes, The Post held an annual contest called Top Tomato, where readers were invited to submit their best tomato recipes. (This was before my time here.) This recipe for Pasta With Fresh Tomato, Roasted Garlic and Brie comes from Patrice Kehoe, whose creamy tomato pasta with just the right amount of garlic flavor earned her a spot among the finalists.

While browsing our recipe archives earlier this year, I came across it and left the browser tab open because it caught my eye. It reminded me of a recipe I’d made years ago out of “The Silver Palate Cookbook” by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins with Michael McLaughlin.

If you’re not familiar with this cookbook, which was first published the year I was born, all you need to know is that the Silver Palate was a very popular shop specializing in prepared foods - akin to a traiteur - in New York City for many years until it closed in 1993. Rosso and Lukins were the brains behind the operation. They each published cookbooks of their own, and others together, but it’s “The Silver Palate Cookbook” that’s best-known and still in print.

Tearing brie for the sauce. Photo credit: Scott Suchman; food styling by Lisa Cherkasky/Both for The Washington Post

Chicken Marbella is easily the most famous recipe to come out of the book. But in a chapter titled “Summer Pasta,” Rosso and Lukins included a recipe for linguine with tomatoes and basil. If you were skimming, you would think that was all there was to it: linguine, tomatoes and basil. And, done well (with enough olive oil, salt and pepper), linguine, tomatoes and basil is a pretty perfect meal.