Thursday, July 9, 2009

Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Pasta & Sun Dried Tomatoes

Once again I am thoroughly blown away by the savoury recipes that Ina creates. I know I am constantly commenting on the amount of butter and fat that she adds to her recipes, but once I get over the shock and just lower the amount, I am time after time left with a bold melody of flavours that work perfectly against each other.

This recipe was no exception. Like the couscous we gladly ate two full servings, smiling the whole way though (even though Ian hates uncooked tomatoes).

One thing though, was it just me or were the measurements of the ingredients entirely off? I knew to double the amount of pasta but I had to cut down on the tomatoes, oil (no surprise there), basil, cheese, olives, and completely cut out the large chunks of sun dried tomatoes from the salad.

Either way, we were very happy. Thanks Ina and thanks to Cat of Delta Whiskey for choosing this week’s recipe.

Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes
adapted from Ina Garten
this is my version of Ina's dish


Pasta
1 pound fusilli pasta
1/2 pound ripe tomatoes, medium-diced
1/2 cup good black olives, such as kalamata, pitted and diced
200g fresh boccnchini, torn into pieces
1/2 cup basil leaves, julienned
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan

Dressing
6 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained
1-1/2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
3 tablespoons good olive oil
1 garlic clove, diced
1 teaspoon capers, drained
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water. Drain well and allow to cool till warm. Place the pasta in a bowl and add the dressing with the parmesan. Mix together well. Add the tomatoes, olives, mozzarella, and basil. Toss to mix everything around.
For the dressing, combine the sun-dried tomatoes, vinegar, olive oil, garlic, capers, and pepper in a food processor until almost smooth.

13 comments:

Creative Classroom Core said...

This is such a pretty salad. Love the tomatoes and olives. I so wish my hubby liked olives, because I would love to make this!

♥peachkins♥ said...

This is the third time I've seen this from the - Is it-Barefoot Bloggers?..
I love Ina Garten's recipe as well..if I see this one more time I'm gonna make this and post it on my blog..lol! Can I do that?

Coco Bean said...

finsmom: Oh, it is so worth it, my roomate hates olives so he just left them all to Ian who loves olives and hates Tomatoes. I can't win here eh!

Peachkins: You really should! It is such a wonderful dish. If you want to join the Barefoot Bloggers visit thier website and just send an e-mail, it would be great to have you!

Simones Kitchen said...

How can you hate uncooked tomatoes? I love tomatoes! Now that I think about it, Tom also is not so fond of tomatoes unless they are in sauce form or otherwise grilled or cooked. This looks like a delicious recipe, but the bocconcini or whatever it's called... what is that again? aren't those the little mozarella's? I can't remember!

Deb in Hawaii said...

Gorgeous picture of your salad--this was a good one!

Unknown said...

This was a great pasta dish. I had some leftovers just yesterday (two days after I made it) and thought the flavors were better.

Coco said...

Thank you so much for the kind comments! I have really enjoyed browsing your site, your pictures are truly beautiful. :)

Kanella said...

Thanks for stopping by. Your dish looks wonderful and your blog is beautiful!

TKW said...

Peachkins, I just joined BB a few weeks ago and it's great fun!

I do agree that she tends to add too much fat for my taste. I just eyeballed the amount I used and I'm betting it totalled about 1/4 cup. We are on the same page there.

Valérie said...

I love cold pasta salad in the summer, but I always end up making the same kind. This looks like an excellent recipe; I quite like the idea of adding black olives to the usual "caprese" flavours... Thanks for sharing!

A.D said...

Indeed, it's a savoury salade. I had it while the pasta was still warm and loved it. As for the olives... they add a certain "je ne sais quoi" to the mix. Though as earlier sugested I left a few behind... Not a big olive fan see but it mattered little as I was able to carve my way through and through my plate with little difficulties nor extensive picking.

Compliment to the chef,

Signed "the roomate" ;P

h2babe said...

Thanks for stopping by, I love your blog! I'd be sure to stop by again. Nice job on the pasta.

Laura said...

Looks delicious. It's so much fun to see everyone's different interpretations of one dish!