What’s a gal to do when the garden is producing an abundance of cherry tomatoes and three humans (two adults, one baby) can only eat so many before they go bad? Think of every possible recipe and devise ways to sneak tomatoes in. Like the grain free crackers I shared the other day! And this loaded cherry tomato pasta salad. Now if the thought of pasta salad calls to mind a soggy, depressing side dish at a barbecue, I implore you to perish the thought -- read on for an excellent tip to prevent soggy pasta salad! This cherry tomato pasta salad is full of fresh, juicy tomatoes straight from the garden, dressed with a sassy vinaigrette, and jazzed up with heaps of fresh basil and pesto to brighten things up.
Recipe here, and more information after the jump. I’ve been on the internet long enough to know that the most common gripe with food blogs and online recipes is that the blogger rambles on for too long before sharing the recipe. But if you happen to enjoy rambles, there will be some below!
📖 Recipe
Cherry Tomato Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 1 lb of your pasta of choice
- ⅓ cup chive blossom vinegar I used this, feel free to sub red wine vinegar
- ⅓ cup olive oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes halved
- ½ cup packed fresh basil leaves minced
- ½ cup packed fresh parsley leaves minced
- 8 oz fresh mozzarella
- Zest of one lemon
Instructions
- Heat large pot of water to boiling, add pasta and cook until al dente. I used rotini in this recipe, and did 7 minutes.
- Drain cooked pasta and rinse with cool water, shaking to fully drain.
- Transfer warm pasta to a bowl, toss with olive oil, then place in fridge to chill for 30 minutes.
- While waiting for pasta to chill, take sliced cherry tomatoes and sprinkle with a bit of salt. Set aside to drain, then spin in salad spinner to remove excess liquid. See below for further explanation!
- Add all remaining ingredients to bowl of pasta and mix well. Adjust salt and pepper to taste, and adding a bit more olive oil and vinegar to your desired level of pasta salad-ness. Serve cold.
One of my pride and joy belongings is the America’s Test Kitchen cookbook (affiliate link). I am downright obsessed with ATK -- their thoroughness in testing recipes, their dedication to education and sharing helpful tips for the home cook...just all around Grade A operation over there. Sometimes, I daydream about working there or being on the TV show, despite having zero formal culinary training. But what I lack in professional training I make up for in gusto and enthusiasm! A girl can dream. Anyways, I got the cherry tomato tip from their cookbook, but it’s also on their site:
For a cherry tomato salad recipe that wasn’t soggy, it was necessary to get rid of some of the tomato juice without losing the flavor. So we quartered, salted, and drained the tomatoes before whirling them in a salad spinner to separate the seeds and jelly from the flesh. After we strained and discarded the seeds, we reduced the jelly to a flavorful concentrate, reuniting it with the tomatoes, minus the excess liquid.
America's Test Kitchen
You know the emoji that's like, PSHHH MIND BLOWN? That was me when I read that tip and tried it. The amount of tomato juice that ended up in the salad spinner was astonishing, and that, dear friends, is what usually soggies (is that a word? I'm seeing a red squiggle but rolling with it!) up a pasta salad. You can bid farewell to soggy pasta salad by using this tip, and then your friends and family will think you're a culinary whiz, and will wonder what other tips and tricks you have up your metaphorical apron sleeves.
You can also go a little crazy with this recipe and add zucchini, peppers, cucumber, what have you. Anything from the garden is fair game here! I used some homemade chive blossom vinegar, so if you have some of that laying around feel free to use it. Otherwise, red wine vinegar would be fantastic. I opted to keep things nice and simple for this recipe, to really highlight on the delectable cherry tomatoes coming out of the garden. Also, our 15 month old daughter is an absolute cherry tomato monster and devours them, so this recipe is a bonafide toddler hit if you, too, have tomato monsters living under your roof.
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