Secret Ingredient Pasta Salad with Jammy Tomatoes

Name: Secret Ingredient Pasta Salad with Jammy Tomatoes
Cuisine: European, Italian, Mediterranean
Ingredients: 1 pound of pasta, I like a short tube shape, like campanelle, radiatori, or rigatoni; 1⁄4 cup olive oil, plus more; 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced; Crushed chili flakes (, a dab of harissa paste, your favorite hot sauce, anything spicy); 2 pounds any type of tomatoes (I like the smaller ones on the vine), quartered; ½ to 1 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped, sliced, whatever, preferably packed in oil; 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar; 1⁄2 red onion, sliced (not too thin); 2 tablespoons capers; 2-4 ounces roughly chopped pecorino or parmesan cheese; kosher salt; ground black pepper

6 steps

This pasta salad is very good, kind of has a “cold Amatriciana” feel to it, which, if you’ve ever eaten cold, leftover Amatriciana, you know is a very good thing. (Amatriciana is a classic Roman-as-in-Rome pasta, made with cured pork, tomato, sometimes onion and pecorino.) You can eat it immediately, but it’s truly better after a few hours, either cold or at room temp, a textbook example of a great “eat directly out of a container” food. As always, she is flexible –skip the capers if you like, make it spicy or not, go cheese-less if you dare, use shallots instead of red onion– but resist the urge to throw everything under the sun into this pasta salad. This salad should be composed, elegant and focused, tasting of jammy tomatoes, summertime and secrets (sun-dried tomatoes). - AR

Updated at: Thu, 17 Aug 2023 04:00:06 GMT

Nutrition balance score

Great

Glycemic Index

Low

Glycemic Load

High

Nutrition per serving

Calories382.2 kcal (19%)

Total Fat12.1 g (17%)

Carbs56.3 g (22%)

Sugars6.6 g (7%)

Protein12.6 g (25%)

Sodium284.8 mg (14%)

Fiber4.2 g (15%)

% Daily Values based on a 2,000 calorie diet

Ingredients

7 servings

1 poundpasta

I like a short tube shape, like campanelle, radiatori, or rigatoni

¼ cupolive oil

a dab of harissa paste, your favorite hot sauce, anything spicy

2 poundstomatoes

any type, I like the smaller ones on the vine, quartered

½ cupsun-dried tomatoes

chopped, sliced, whatever, preferably packed in oil

2 tablespoonsred wine vinegar

0.5red onion

sliced, not too thin

2 tablespoonscapers

2 ouncespecorino cheese

roughly chopped, or parmesan

kosher salt

ground black pepper

Instructions

Step 1

1. Cook pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water; drain and set aside (if you’re worried, drizzle with a little olive oil to prevent noodles from sticking- but pasta should still be warm when you dress it so don’t do this too far in advance).

Step 2

2. Meanwhile, combine onion and vinegar in a small bowl and season with salt and pepper and set aside (they are marinating rather than pickling, fwiw).

Step 3

3. Heat ¼ cup olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and season with salt and pepper. Cook, swirling the skillet occasionally, until the garlic is tender and just starting to brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Add your spicy something of choice, add the fresh and sun-dried (!) tomatoes and season with salt and pepper.

Step 4

4. Cook, tossing occasionally until the fresh tomatoes are just burst and juicy (you can use a spatula or wooden spoon to encourage them to break down if they started out especially firm), 5 to 8 minutes.

Step 5

5. Combine pasta and tomato mixture in a large bowl. Add your marinated onions, drizzle with a bit more olive oil and season again with salt, pepper and more of your spicy something if you like. Toss, toss, toss until every piece of pasta is evenly coated. Let it sit for 10 minutes or so and toss it again. Think of it as marinated pasta, knowing that the flavor will change a bit as it sits.

Step 6

6. You can eat it immediately, but it’s truly better after a few hours, cold or at room temp. This is perfect “eat out of a container” food at the beach, on the grass, wherever. Top with lots of cheese before eating and drink with something cold and effervescent.