Pasta With Marinated Tomatoes and Summer Herbs
- Total Time
- 30 minutes, plus marinating
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- About 1½ pounds ripe tomatoes, halved or quartered if small, diced if large
- Salt
- 2cans olive oil-packed tuna or 1 pound mozzarella cheese, diced (optional)
- ⅔cup pitted oil-cured black olives, halved, or ½ cup pitted green olives, chopped, or 3 tablespoons capers (optional)
- ⅔cup chopped fresh herbs (basil, parsley, mint, chives, cilantro, scallion tops, or a combination), more for garnish
- Freshly grated zest of 1 lemon (optional)
- About ¾ cup extra virgin olive oil
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 2pounds short pasta, like fusilli, farfalle or penne
- Hot red pepper flakes (optional)
- ½cup toasted pine nuts (optional)
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)
777 calories; 33 grams fat; 4 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 19 grams monounsaturated fat; 7 grams polyunsaturated fat; 92 grams carbohydrates; 6 grams dietary fiber; 6 grams sugars; 30 grams protein; 692 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Up to 4 hours before serving, put tomatoes in a large bowl and sprinkle all over with salt. Set aside for 30 minutes, then drain off liquid.
- Step 2
Add tuna and its oil, olives or capers, if using. Add herbs and zest. Add olive oil, salt and pepper to taste and stir gently, flaking tuna into pieces. Cover and set aside at least 1 hour or up to 3 hours, stirring occasionally.
- Step 3
Cook pasta in plenty of boiling salted water. Drain very well. Combine tomatoes and pasta well, then taste and add more oil, salt and pepper to taste. Add red pepper flakes if desired. Sprinkle with pine nuts, if using, and chopped herbs. Serve immediately.
Private Notes
Comments
Here's a trick with mozzarella in this recipe: Dice into 1/2" cubes, then freeze in freezer for 10 mins. *Then* add at the end to freshly boiled pasta. The mozzarella won't turn into stringy "taffy," but will blend well with tomatoes, pasta, herbs, etc.
There is a lot of flavor in the tomato water - why discard? The hot pasta will absorb a lot of the liquid as it cooks a little after straining.
This was delicious, however it calls for 2 lbs of pasta. I used a pound and it was great. 2 lbs would have hidden the delicious fresh ingredients. I used the pine nuts and pepper flakes. These were nice flavor boosters.
This is awfully good. Thanks for all the suggestions. I used mozzarella and froze it, halved the pasta, saved the tomato water, cut the oil considerably, and I used both green olives and capers. I think I'd increase the olives and capers next time. We really liked it warm and the leftovers were great cold the next day. I've made the version Jane K references (I think it's a Silver Palate recipe?) This is lighter and I prefer it without garlic, which gets too strong if it sits overnight.
I’ve been looking for a pasta salad I actually like. This was pretty good. Definitely do 1 lb of pasta. Two is WAY too much and all the yummy stuff would get lost. I like the flexibility of olives or capers or none. I went with capers to add salt but not the olive taste. Used mozz balls vs tuna. Scallion and parsley for the herbs. Not a big fan of zest so I skipped it. I might add in a bit of acid - lemon juice or vinegar - and maybe a bit of finely diced red onion next time. It’s going rotation
I've been making this as written since it first appeared. Today I tweaked it after October issue of Food & Wine (F&W) had similar "Spanish" version that added 1 1/2 tablespoon sherry vinegar and olive oil to marinate the tomatoes (Step 1 in this recipe). F&W didn't drain the tomatoes. and why would you with the resulting tasty tomato "sauce" This will be my new version for this recipe.
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