Angel Hair with Tomatoes, Basil and Croutons

Feast or famine these days, guess I am on a roll and it feels good - somebody stop me! Here's a walk down memory lane...

Soon after college, Devin and I got into a good cooking groove. In fact Devin, Craig and I had a fantastic Thursday ritual - Friends, Seinfeld, cook dinner during the lame filler show and eat while watching ER (which always kind of grossed us out). Our favorite cookbook was the Colorado Collage - and after cooking from it last night, I am reminded of how very, very loved this book was.

One of our old standbys was Angel hair with tomatoes, basil and croutons. Essentially, this is bruschetta with pasta. It's a simple, fresh recipe and you normally have almost everything already in the house. So the recipe and memories may be from the 90's ...but the taste is so 2010.
From my table to yours...

Angel Hair with Tomatoes, Basil and Croutons

Ingredients:

• 2T butter (or you can use olive oil spray for less calories)
• 2 cloves minced garlic, divided
• 4 C 1-inch cubes of Italian bread
• Pinch of coarse salt
• 3 C roma tomatoes, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 serrano pepper, seeded and minced (you can use red pepper flakes too)
• 12 ounces angel hair pasta, cooked al dente, drained
• 3T olive oil
• 2 C fresh basil, chopped

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Combine butter and 1t of garlic, pour over bread cubes and toss. Place in single layer on large baking sheet and bake for 10 min or until golden brown. Remove from oven and sprinkle coarse salt to taste.
• In large bowl, combine tomatoes, serrano pepper and remaining garlic.
• Add hot pasta and toss.
• Drizzle with oil and toss again.
• Sprinkle basic and half of the reserved croutons over pasta. Pass remaining croutons.