One of the best, yet easiest combinations of the warm-weathered days is the classic caprese. Nothing but tomato, basil, quality mozzarella, and maybe a splash of balsamic, although even that’s not a mandatory component. Come summertime, and I’m settling down to a tomato sandwich at every lunch hour. It’s the one time of year where I’m satisfied with a dietary routine. Usually my mind’s racing to the next creation I can cook up for dinner and use as the next day’s leftovers. But not during tomato season. Screw leftovers. The heck with innovation. All I want is a tomato sammie. At the dawn of the summer season, you won’t even find mozzarella in the picture. Rather, it’s just me, my vine-ripened heirlooms, a dab of mayo, and a little S & P, sandwiched between two slices of chewy, whole grain bread.
But as the tomato season nears its end, my mind begins to wander yet again. While I’m still enjoying the classic tomato sandwich, I’ve begun to dabble a little in the cheese department, and pretty soon I find myself straying all together away from the two slices of bread that turn my tomato into a sandwich. I have yet to grow tired of my favorite caprese combination, and I’m sure there won’t be enough garden-filled tomato days left for that to happen. But I am ready for a little revamping, which led me to this pasta.
A simple pasta for bread swap, and a whole new caprese creation is born into existence. Not that innovative, but it still satisfies my desire for a bit of a switch up. Really, how could you ever tire of fresh basil and tomatoes?
Ingredients
- -1 lb. whole wheat pasta (preferably a short-cut variety, such as fusilli or ziti)
- -6 cloves garlic, minced
- -4 medium tomatoes, diced
- -8 oz. mozzarella, cubed
- -20 basil leaves, chopped
- -4 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
- -1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
- -Scant tsp. salt
- -1/2 tsp. pepper
Instructions
- Cook pasta al dente, according to directions.
- Meanwhile, heat oil in large saute pan over medium-high. Saute garlic until soft. Stir in salt, pepper, and tomatoes with their juices, and cook 3-4 minutes, or until half of juice evaporates. Add basil and balsamic vinegar. Saute just until basil begins to wilt. Remove from heat.
- Toss in mozzarella, being careful to warm the mozzarella but not melt it. Serve immediately, with fresh basil on top, if desired.
This sounds like the perfect summer/beginning of fall recipe. Thankfully we still have a couple more rounds of fresh tomatoes coming through in our garden, and you’re right….what is better than fresh tomato and basil?! Especially when mozzarella and balsamic are added to the equation!
I love anything and everything caprese! I make a variation of this dish quite often. Delicious!
Yum! Love Caprese! It’s the best with buffalo mozzarella. I’m sad we can’t get that here at the commissary like we used to in Europe.
Looks incredible, better than my caprese which I posted a while ago. This is my favourite type of salad, so fresh, delicious and healthy. Yum.
This dish is really tasty! I like to make a Caprese salad pasta dish, too, and blogged about it a week or so back. Mm mm… beautiful photo, too!
Haha, I’m seeing so many posts about tomato pasta these days. A good thing, too, because each one just makes me happy 🙂 LOVE fresh veggies and pasta!
i am such a sucker for crabs! This pasta looks absolutely delicious!! 🙂
Thanks for the info, interesting stuff here.
Pretty! This was an incredibly wonderful article. Many thanks for providing these details.
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