RECIPE: Fresh Cherry Tomatoes with Pasta

Basia HellwigSeptember 11, 20101 Mins read13 Views

Serves 4 (unless you’re carbo-loading for a bike ride and then all bets are off)

WHAT COULD BE SIMPLER than a dish that requires no cooking except boiling pasta? With a raw sauce like this, the key is to choose the best ingredients—tomatoes at their absolute ripest and sweetest, fresh-picked tangy arugula and herbs. Chopping the greens (and other ingredients) helps make sure they’ll be evenly distributed throughout the dish. Small pasta shapes, such as orrechiette and fusilli, seem to work best.

1 pint ripe cherry tomatoes

2 garlic cloves (or 1 large), minced

4 tbs basil leaves, chopped or slivered

1 packed cup wild arugula, roughly chopped

sea salt

3 tbs extra-virgin olive oil

1 tsp balsamic vinegar (optional)

¾ lb pasta (I particularly like orrechiette, which like wild arugula, is typical of Puglia)

¼ cup grated Parmesan (or more)

Cut the cherry tomatoes in half (cool time-saving trick here) and put in a beautiful bowl (yes, that’s part of the recipe) big enough to hold the vegetables and pasta. Add the minced garlic cloves, basil leaves, wild arugula and olive oil. Mix and let sit at room temperature for 20 minutes or more. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Cook pasta al dente, drain and toss with the tomato mixture. Sprinkle cheese on top.

Variations:

Add 1/4 cup of olives cut in half.

Add 4 scallions chopped thinly.

Use mint instead of basil.

And so on…

Adapted from The Very Best of Recipes for Health, by Martha Rose Shulman.