What to do with summer tomatoes - bacon, tomato and cheese pasta.

I've got a bumper crop of beautiful cherry tomatoes in both yellow and red.

So I picked some off the vine, too them inside and pulled out a box of pasta.

Cavatappi is a curly ridged pasta that is perfect for dishes like mac & cheese. It holds sauce beautifully. So I put some on to boil in salted water.

Then I chopped up some bacon. I always keep some in the freezer. It is so much easier to dice frozen. Put some olive oil in a skillet and toss in the diced bacon over medium heat.

Now I want you to separate a couple of eggs. We'll be using the yolks for this recipe.

Be thrifty and freeze the whites in a freezer bag. They freeze wonderfully and work just as well thawed. They even whip a little higher due to the freezing.

Give the yolks a little bit of a beating. Add some salt and pepper. Watch the salt as bacon is quite salty and we're using cheese here, some kinds can be salty as well.

Pick out some shredded cheese or shred some yourself. I went with some odds and ends from the fridge. Cheddar, Monterey Jack and a pepper jack.

Take about 3/4 cup of cheese and mix it with the egg yolks. What you'll end up with is cheese coated with egg yolk, which is what we're looking for here.

If you like, you can cut the tomatoes in half depending on their size. The tomato juices help make the sauce.

Once the bacon is brown and starting to crisp, add the tomatoes to the pan.

Give them about four or five minutes in the bacon just to warm through. Whent the pasta is cooked through, drain it.

Put the pasta in a bowl and combine with the cheesey egg mixture.

Give it a good stir and then add the bacon and tomato mixture.

Mix it all together. The eggs and cheese and bacon drippings will form a cheesey sauce. I know it's bacon drippings, but it takes the place that butter or cream would in other sauces. I know the eggs aren't pre-cooked, but the heat from the pasta and the baon and tomatoes serves that function. ?Give it a little time for all the cheese to melt.

I also think if you were cooking for someone other than my husband, that something green would go well in here. Perhaps some basil or some lightly sauteed fresh spinach of even a leaf lettuce. You could put the spinach or basic in when you add the tomatoes and give it a quick heating.

This is very rich, so have it with a nice cold drink. Enjoy.