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1
To make the basic sauce: Put the parsley leaves, garlic, peperoncino, and 1 teaspoon salt in the food-processor bowl.
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2
Pulse several times to chop the leaves coarsely, then, with the machine running, pour in all the olive oil in a steady stream.
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3
Stop and scrape down the sides of the work bowl, and process to a fine-textured, very loose pesto.
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4
Use this parsley sauce right away to dress pasta or as a condiment.
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5
To store, scrape the sauce into a small container, cover the top surface with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for a day (or freeze for later use; defrost at room temperature).
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6
For parsley sauce with tomatoes: Prepare the tomatoes before processing the basic sauce.
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7
For full-sized round tomatoes, cut out the cores, slice the tomatoes in half, and squeeze out the seeds, then cut the flesh into 1-inch chunks.
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8
For cherry tomatoes, simply slice them in half.
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9
Put all the cut tomato pieces in a deep bowl, and toss with 1 teaspoon kosher salt.
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10
Let the tomatoes sit for a few minutes to release their juices while you process the parsley sauce, as detailed above.
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11
Pour the freshly made parsley sauce over the cut tomatoes, and toss together well.
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12
Use within an hour or two.
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13
If it waits longer the freshness and bright color of the parsley vanishes.
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14
To dress the pasta with either the basic parsley sauce or the parsley-tomato sauce: Put the sauce in a bowl big enough for tossing.
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15
Cook the pasta until al dentetake some of the boiling pasta water to loosen the parsley sauce only if it seems too dense to toss.
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16
When the maccheroni (page 236 ) is done, drain and drop it into the bowl with the sauce.
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17
Toss well, then sprinkle over it a cup or so of grated cheese, and toss again.
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18
Serve immediately in warm bowls, with more cheese at the table.
