Pasta Caprese

I was pretty sure I had a winner of a simple weeknight dinner with this dish, and I approved it, but here’s the story.

I had an idea for this Pasta Caprese as something that would be hearty enough for my husband, but still light and summery and without chicken. I made it hearty with cheese and whole wheat pasta, and even added a whole yellow onion and garlic to appease his love of stomach turning foods. I’m nice like that.

I was correct in the easy weeknight dinner part, and it was a filling enough dinner for me, but Jeffrey raided the refrigerator for leftover BBQ 30 minutes after the kitchen closed for the night.

Putting a spin on a Caprese salad (tomato, mozzarella, basil) by cooking it and adding it to pasta was really tasty. The cheese got melty and stringy, and the tomatoes dissolved into the pasta. I have a few thoughts to make it better, but that’s below.

Pasta Caprese

Ingredients:

• 2 large red tomatoes
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 8 oz block mozzarella
• 1/2 C basil, in a chiffonade
• 1 box penne, or about 10 ounces
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 tsp each salt and pepper
• 3 T EVOO

Instructions:

• In a pasta pot or soup pot, bring water to a boil and cook pasta as directions say, about 10 minutes.
• In a large skillet, add 1.5 T EVOO to heat and then add garlic, but don’t let it burn.
• Shortly after, add the onion and cook together until it starts to brown, don’t burn.
• Add chopped tomatoes and let it all cook together until the tomatoes become very liquidy and it looks like a sauce.
• Add salt and pepper when the tomatoes go in.
• Drain pasta, while reserving about 1/2 C pasta water.
• Place pasta back in the large pot.
• Add tomato sauce and pasta water to the pasta and mix well. If sauce starts to dissolve into the noodles, add more pasta water.
• Once combined, add mozzarella and basil and stir to combine. Serve immediately.
• If you are going to wait to serve, wait to combine the sauce and cheese until ready.
• Season to taste with salt and pepper.

The part I should have done was reserve the pasta water to help the sauce stay juicy. In the sauce pan, it was very juicy, but the pasta absorbed it quickly since we didn’t eat right away.

The mozzarella also turned a little tough while it was sitting waiting for Jeffrey to come home from work. Lesson is to make this right when you want to eat it and your cheese will stay gooey and your sauce will be saucy.

I still liked it, and it made great leftovers to eat cold.

This pasta dish was super simple with just a few ingredients. I really liked how it made its own sauce of just tomatoes, onion and garlic. Few ingredients, just two pots, a one-dish meal, and under 30 minutes are my qualifications for an easy weeknight dinner. Even in the summertime!

What are you cooking up quickly this summer?