Cree LeFavour

The branches of my giant row of tomato plants at the Frenchtown Community Garden are hanging low with clusters of Sungold Tomatoes. They're my favorite tomato to grow because they deliver acidity and bright, citrusy flavor. They come in prolific waves of orange that start early and keep going all summer long.

I can't imagine the mozarrella-tomato-basil combo that makes an almost daily appearance at my table this time of year without the venerable Sungold. When not paired up with mozarrella and basil, I eat Sungolds out of hand, pop them on pizza, gobble them between bread with avocado and mayo or cut them in half and sprinkle them on Breakstone's large curd cottage cheeese with flaxseed oil, salt and black pepper. (Try it!) After all of that, when there are yet more Sungolds on the kitchen counter, I make sauce. The idea is to capture that super-fresh flavor by JUST cooking the fruit. Add the basil if you're going to eat the sauce; if you're freezing it for later, wait.

SUNGOLD TOMATO SAUCE

3 tablespoons great olive oil

1/2 head local garlic, peeled and thinly sliced

3 cups Sungold tomatoes, cut in half

Pinch kosher salt

Large sprig fresh basil, chopped

Combine the oil and garlic in a large saute pan set over medium heat. When the oil starts to sizzle after about one minute, add the tomatoes and salt. Cook, stirring now and again with a heat-proof rubber spatula, for 8 to 10 minutes or until the sauce begins to stick to the bottom of the pan.

Sprinkle on the basil after you sauce your pasta. Or, if youwant to freeze the sauce, transfer it to a freezer-worthy container. Put a date on the container and bury it in the bowels of your freezer. You'll be deeply grateful to discover it when the last of your tomatoes are a lovely memory, merged in your mind with the smell of wet bikinis and the taste of lime and beer on ice.