No doubt about it I am on an heirloom tomato kick. These juicy, brightly colored and flavorful beauties are all over the farmer’s markets and grocery store produce shelves right now, so who can blame me? Today we are making Heirloom Tomato Linguini! This pasta is a 20 minute meal that feeds a crowd!
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Heirloom Tomato Linguini:
Al dente pasta tossed with fresh heirloom tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, mozzarella cheese and a fragrant basil chiffonade!
What is a ‘chiffonade’?
It’s a technique for slicing any large leaf herb. Simply stack your basil leaves, roll them tightly and slice! I use a Wusthof 8′ chef’s knife (affiliate link) I love it!
Using fresh herbs in our food not only adds flavor and color but many nutrients as well. If you shy away from garlic because you don’t like the smell on your hands, I have a solution! For this recipe I use fresh mozzarella packed in water. These little balls of creamy Mozzarella are called ‘perline’ because they look like little pearls. If you can’t find them just buy the bigger size and dice the cheese to size.
TIPS FOR COOKING PASTA:
When cooking pasta there are only a few things to remember:
1. Follow pasta box cooking instructions, they usually are right on.
2. Salt the water for flavor.
3. To keep pasta from sticking be sure to have lots of water in your pot, at least several inches above the pasta to allow room for expansion
4. stir frequently.
MAKE IT GLUTEN FREE AND JUST AS GOOD:
If you live without gluten you don’t have to miss out on exceptional pasta! Jovial Foods makes the best gluten free pasta around. I am lucky enough to live by a store that carries it, but if you aren’t as lucky, you can order it here! The best thing about Jovial pasta (besides the taste and texture) is that the grains are soaked for easy digestion. That’s a really great and rare thing for a store bought pasta!
The Recipe: Heirloom Tomato Linguini
Tips, variations and what you will need: (affiliate links) a good knife, a colander, sea salt. Buy the tub to save money! Sometimes I use fresh creamy burrata cheese instead of mozzarella. Yum.
- 16 oz organic linguini, cooked to package instructions
- 3-4 large heirloom tomatoes, red, yellow and orange
- 1/2 cup fresh perline mozzarella
- 3 small cloves garlic, peeled and minced
- 12 large basil leaves, chiffonade
- Sea salt
- 3 T extra virgin olive oil
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Fill a large pot with water and place on high heat. While water heats, dice tomatoes.
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Set diced tomatoes in a strainer or on paper towels to eliminate extra juices. Prepare garlic and basil.
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Place tomatoes, basil and garlic in a bowl and toss. When water is boiling add pasta and cook according to package instructions.
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When pasta is done strain in colander (do not rinse) pour over tomatoes, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Toss and taste. Add more oil or salt if needed. Add cheese, toss. Serve
MAY I PLEASE ASK A FAVOR?
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I made this but didn’t have mozzarella so I used feta instead. It was delicious! The feta sort of melted a bit to make the rest of the “sauce” a bit creamy.
Sounds delicious jenny! I have used Parmesan too…pretty much if it’s cheese, it’s good:)