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This clever little pasta dish is supposedly from Sicily. I adapted it from the Silver Palate Cookbook several years ago and can’t stop making it. A true gem – and no cooking required for the sauce. Just chop some tomatoes and combine them with olive oil, garlic, basil, and Brie. When you toss hot pasta into the mixture you get a creamy pasta paired with the season’s best flavors. As soon as you have access to some quality tomatoes and fresh basil, I recommend you try this summer in a bowl pasta!
Looking for more simple pasta recipes? Try my bucatini al amatriciana, spaghetti carbonara, pasta alla Trapanese, or linguine with clams.
Notes on Summer in a Bowl Pasta
This recipe is really all about ingredient quality – especially the tomatoes. As is the case with many simple recipes, if your ingredients lack flavor, so will your dish. Avoid supermarket conventionally grown tomatoes for this one. Home-grown or farmer’s market tomatoes are generally best – heirloom varieties like Oxheart Pink are my favorite. You can also try cherry/grape tomatoes. I usually go for these if I do have to procure my tomatoes from the grocery store.
If you do head to the farmer’s market for your tomatoes, grab some fresh basil and garlic while you are there too.
Try and use a quality extra virgin olive oil as well. My favorite budget olive oil right now is Trader Joe’s 100% Greek Klamata Extra Virgin Olive Oil. For a little more, I like the California Olive Ranch brand. If you want to read more about the olive oil Chefs prefer, see this Strategist article. I’d also recommend Tom Muller’s book “Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil.” You can learn all about the rampant fraud occurring in the olive oil industry and how to avoid fake extra virgin olive oil.
Suggested Pairings
Pair this pasta with a simple salad and a bottle of wine. For the wine, I think the raw tomato and creamy Brie pair best with a crisp/acidic white or rose. A dry prosecco could also work well.
Print
Summer in a Bowl Pasta
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 10
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Pasta
- Cuisine: Italian
Description
A no-cook sauce that’s perfect for a hot summer night.
Ingredients
- 4 large tomatoes, diced
- 3 to 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 cups basil leaves, roughly chopped or torn
- wedge of brie, rind removed and chopped into pieces (about ½ pound)
- ⅔ cup extra virgion olive oil
- zest of 1 lemon
- salt
- 1 pound linguine (thick spaghetti or fettuccine also work)
- Parmesan cheese for serving
Instructions
- Combine tomatoes, garlic, 1 cup of basil, brie, and olive oil in large pasta serving bowl. Sprinkle with lemon zest, salt, and pepper. Toss ingedients to combine. Let the bowls sit out at room temperature for at least 2 hours (and no more than 3).
- Boil pasta in salted water following instructions on package. Drain pasta and immediatley toss it with tomatoe mixture. Adjust seasoning to taste. Top with remaining basil and paresan cheese.
Keywords: tomato, basil, brie, pasta, garlic
