– 12 oz linguine pasta – 12 oz cherry tomatoes cubed, quartered – 1 white onion thinly sliced – 4 cloves garlic, 4 teaspoons – ½ tsp red-pepper flakes – 12 basil leaves half for pasta, half for garnish – 2 TBSP olive oil – Salt and pepper for taste – 4 ½ cups Water – parmesan cheese pasta topping
Wash the cherry tomatoes and cut them into quarters, or half if you like larger chunks of tomato. Thinly slice the onion into small strips. You do not want minced onion, you want about 1" long by 1/4" wide strips. If needed, chop or mince the garlic cloves. If you are using package minced garlic or paste, you can skip this step.
Add the pasta, cubed tomatoes, sliced onion, minced garlic, pepper flakes, basil leaves, olive oil, salt, pepper, and all the water in a large straight-sided skillet. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat. Continue to boil, stirring and turning the pasta frequently with tongs, until pasta is al dente and water has nearly evaporated, this is about 9 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper, season as desired.