you're making mealtime meaningful.
When it comes to cooking, the Barefoot Contessa can do no wrong and trust me when I say that her Summer Garden Pasta is no exception. All you have here is simple ingredients brought together in a skillful way for some amazing flavor, and it’s all you need. Consider this a celebration of summer’s tomato bounty, but you can also consider it a go-to dinner that’s delicious but doesn’t take a lot of fuss.
This is really just a handful of ingredients but the magic here is in how this is prepared. There’s no sauce to make, rather, this relies on letting the tomatoes marinate for a few hours for amazing flavor with very little work.
You just have to cut the tomatoes in half, toss them in some olive oil, lots o’ garlic, fresh basil, and red pepper flake and let it sit. The juices release from the tomatoes, the olive oil takes on some of that flavor and that of the garlic.
All you have left to do is boil the pasta and toss everything together with a little freshly grated parm. That’s it! It’s a pasta dish that’s full of flavor but not heavy and it requires so little work from you. Another complete success from Ina Garten!
Ina Garten's Summer Garden Pasta
Yield(s): Serves 6
10m prep time
4h inactive
you're making mealtime meaningful.
Ingredients
- 4 pints cherry tomatoes, halved
- Extra virgin olive oil, as needed
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 18 large basil leaves, julienned, plus more for serving
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flake
- Kosher salt, to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 lb angel hair pasta
- 1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
Preparation
- In a large bowl, stir together the cherry tomatoes, 1/2 cup olive oil, garlic, basil, red pepper flake, 1 teaspoon of salt, and pepper. Cover and set aside at room temperature for 4 hours.
- Just before you're ready to serve, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add a splash of olive oil and pasta and cook according to package directions.
- Drain pasta well and add to bowl with cherry tomatoes. Add parmesan and a few more fresh basil leaves and toss to combine.
- Serve with more Parmesan and enjoy!
Recipe adapted from The Barefoot Contessa.