The Plaza Grille on DePasquale Plaza in Providence is long gone but its wonderful owner Fran Whiting shared a most wonderful recipe before she retired.

It's a tomato and penne dish made with fresh tomatoes, basil, a touch of red pepper flakes and a secret. Adding depth to the flavor is a bit of chicken base. You can find it at the grocery store in the soup section. Better Than Bouillon is one good brand.

It takes less than 15 minutes to make. Indeed if you are a fast tomato chopper, it only takes 10 minutes.

I start boiling the water for the pasta as I chop the tomatoes and the timing works perfectly.

The fresh flavor of the tomatoes and basil are wonderful. Don't overcook so as to stew the tomatoes, you want them still a bit chunky, though not as chunky in the photo that Fran styled to go with the recipe.

For me, I skip the cheese as I don't want anything coming between me and my tomatoes

I
FRAN WHITING'S PENNE WITH FRESH MOZZARELLA
3 tablespoons butter (unsalted)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons chicken base
1 pinch of red pepper seeds
1 handful of chopped, fresh basil
4 cups diced tomatoes
2 mozzarella balls chopped fine (See note)
1 pound penne pasta

Melt butter in pan. Add olive oil and carmelize it with the butter. Add chicken base and stir to dissolve. Add red pepper seed and chopped basil. Heat for about 1 minute. Add diced tomatoes. Cook with tomatoes for about 3 minutes. Mash some tomatoes with spoon to aid in reducing tomatoes.

In a separate pan, boil pasta.
Remove tomato mix from heat.
Remove pasta from heat and drain.
In a large bowl place chopped mozzarella at bottom. Pour pasta over chopped mozzarella, then add tomato mix. Mix well. Serve immediately.
Note: Make sure the mozzarella is at room temperature. That's how it will nicely melt into the warm pasta.

Serves 4.