If you’re like us, you have eaten and eaten and eaten over the last week until you feel like you’re going to burst. We’ve got leftovers galore filling our fridge and will easily be eating off of it for the next week, as long as we stay creative in the kitchen and don’t get sick of the stuff.

So if you find yourself with some fresh mozzarella floating around your fridge and aren’t quite sure what to do with it, try this very simple and delicious pasta. You can use fresh tomatoes if you have them available. If you’d like to add some heat to this dish, throw 1 teaspoon of crushed chilies into the pan while you sauté the garlic.

Or you can add your own homemade chili oil to your portion which is very easy to make. Since we like things fiery but Mackenzie is always not such a huge fan, this is really helpful. Just crush 4 or 5 dried chili peppers with a mortar and pestle and put them into a small jar or bottle. Pour enough olive oil over the chilies to cover. Let it sit for at least a week in a cool, dry place. That’s it. The chili oil is ready to use but make sure you only use a few drops the first time you try it so you know how much heat it’s packing.

I often make the sauce earlier in the day and just leave it to simmer until it’s the desired thickness. If you cut up the mozzarella ahead of time as well, you have a very quick dinner meal ready in about 10 minutes (the time it takes to cook dried pasta). I’ve also doubled the recipe and frozen the extra sauce in portions for later meals.

Make sure to add the mozzarella just before eating to get the best looking dish. Otherwise the fresh cheese starts to melt and becomes a gooey mess. This doesn’t make it taste any worse (in fact it’s probably even better), but it looks more appealing before everything is mixed up.