Pasta Caprese

This is another recipe that falls in the so-easy category. It's practically a no-cook dish. I made this recipe up last night when we wanted something quick and tasty that would require a minimum of heat from the stove (it was still in the 90s at 7pm). So for this I combined a recipe from epicurious and Williams Sonoma.

PASTA CAPRESE

ingredients

I bag pasta (I used fusilli, but penne or really anything would work as well)
3 Tbsp fresh lemon basil, chopped
1 Tbsp fresh oregano, chopped
1 tsp chives, chopped
1/2 zucchini, quartered and sliced
1/2 red onion, chopped
2 chopped tomatoes (or in my case 1/2 tomato chopped and a handful of garden cherry tomatoes)
1 clove garlic, diced
1 container fresh mozzarella, chopped
2 Tbsp Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup olive oil
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar


Put the water on to boil and add pasta and salt when boiling.

In the meantime, chop up the ingredients and mix together the herbs, tomatoes, zucchini, garlic, and onions.


Chop up the mozzarella and set aside.


Cook the pasta until just al dente and drain. Rinse with just a little warm water. Add the mozzarella and Parmesan first. All the real Italians say that you should always add the cheese to the pasta first so that it can melt a little to the pasta. Last night I didn't rinse my pasta with cool water, and it stayed so hot that the Moz all clumped together. I think next time the key is to get the pasta to the point where it's warm but not too hot.

Toss with the oil and vinegar and add mixed ingredients. Stir to coat and combine. Serve.



This pasta is just as good the next day cold (maybe even better) as it is warm. It would work well as a cold pasta salad dish for a potluck.

Oh, and the thing about the lemon basil is that I accidentally bought and planted the wrong herb a last week. I meant to buy regular old boring basil but apparently I bought lemon basil. So much for pesto. Anyway, the lemon basil is quite fun and livens up this dish quite a bit. I highly recommend planting some in your garden if you haven't already! I imagine it would be good with chicken if you were into that sort of thing.