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Alex Caspero is a Registered Dietitian, New York Times Bestselling Plant-Based Chef and mom of two. She aims to cut through the nutrition noise by providing real-life, nourishing tips for body and mind. Learn more about Alex.
Cherry Tomato Pasta! A simple, homemade sauce using fresh cherry tomatoes, pasta and plenty of basil. A staple weeknight summer recipe and easily vegan.
Is it even summer if you aren’t eating your body weight in tomatoes? I cannot get enough fresh tomatoes right now; from tomato sandwiches to BLT‘s to this simple cherry tomato pasta recipe, it’s all tomatoes from now until mid-September.
If you’ve never made sauce from fresh cherry tomatoes before, this recipe is for you. It’s so easy, it’s almost doesn’t need a formal recipe. Reduce fresh cherry tomatoes in plenty of garlicky olive oil, then toss with pasta and top with basil. How simple is that?
I make fresh tomato sauce at least weekly this time of year, and my fresh tomato sauce is a must if you are trying to use up a bumper of garden tomatoes as it’s perfect for batch cooking. Throw in glass jars and freeze for months!
However, when I want a simpler sauce then I turn to this cherry tomato pasta recipe. Since cherry tomatoes are more flavorful year-round, this is also a great recipe to enjoy in the dead of winter when most grocery-store tomatoes are pale and tasteless. First, you’ll heat olive oil in a large saucepan and then add in garlic and red pepper. This infuses the olive oil with more flavor, though take care not to burn the garlic. If you do, remove and start again as burned garlic is impossible to remove from a dish and the flavor will continue to permeate.
From there, add in the cherry tomatoes and cook until they burst. To help them along, gently press the tomatoes with the back of a wooden spoon or potato masher. You don’t want all of them broken down, but enough so they become saucy.
Here’s the secret to making good pasta– finish cooking your pasta in the sauce.
It makes a huge difference in the overall taste, and works for just about any cooked sauce. When I first started dating my husband he couldn’t believe how good my simple spaghetti was. The trick? I undercooked the noodles slightly, then finished cooking them in the warmed sauce, constantly tossing until the noodles soaked up the flavorful sauce and become perfectly al dente.
You’ll use the same technique here, adding in a splash or two of pasta water as needed to loosen the sauce if it becomes too thick.
You’ll often see in recipes that they call for reserved pasta water, literally the water that you cooked the pasta in. When I drain my pasta, I usually do so over a large bowl to catch the water or I’ll scoop out a laddle or two of pasta water and set aside before draining. Pasta water is different than regular water as it contains the starches from the pasta. These starches help the sauce cling to the cooked noodles — another trick for silky, rich pasta.
If you forget to reserve pasta water, regular water won’t allow the sauce to cling to the noodles as well so go slow in adding any if needed to loosen the sauce.
Shorter pasta works best in this dish, allowing you to grab a forkful of the pasta and the thicker cherry tomato sauce in one bite. Penne, ziti, farfalle, rigatoni or the like would all work here.
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PrintCherry Tomato Pasta! A simple, homemade sauce using fresh cherry tomatoes, pasta and plenty of basil. A staple weeknight summer recipe and easily vegan.
If the sauce tastes too tart, add in a pinch of sugar to balance.
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