With tomato season in full swing, the prices are coming down, and the tomatoes are ripe and sweet. I love a good Pasta al Pomodoro, but I also love experimenting with new flavors. This Ume Pomodoro was a result of asking, "What would a Japanese Pomodoro be like?".

I more or less kept the preparation the same but added some umeboshi in with the tomatoes and then finished the pasta with some green shiso instead of basil. This made for a sweet and tangy sauce that's marvelously refreshing on a hot summer day.

The one variable here is the type of umeboshi you use. Traditional umeboshi is about 22% salt, whereas some modern varieties reduce the salt content to as low as 5%. I used a 7% salt umeboshi, but depending on the saltiness of your umeboshi, you may need to reduce the salt or eliminate it altogether.