Rustic Mediterranean Pasta With Tomatoes
"Try this when you crave a fast-fix, light pasta. The no-cook tomato sauce marries beautifully with fresh parsley and unexpected raisins and pine nuts."
photo by ScrappieDoo
- Ready In:
- 28mins
- Ingredients:
- 15
- Yields:
-
8 cups
ingredients
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes, and
- 1 pint yellow cherry tomato
- 1⁄4 red onion
- 1⁄2 cup kalamata olives or 1/2 cup green olives, pitted
- 1⁄4 cup red wine vinegar
- 1⁄4 cup olive oil
- 1⁄2 cup crumbled feta
- 1⁄3 cup chopped fresh parsley (or dill)
- 1 teaspoon salt, and
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
- 1⁄2 teaspoon garlic powder, and
- 1⁄2 teaspoon pepper
- 0.5 (500 g) package fusilli
- 1⁄4 cup raisins (optional)
- 1⁄4 cup toasted pine nuts (optional)
directions
- Cut tomatoes in half, then place in a very large bowl.
- Thinly slice onion.
- Coarsely chop olives.
- Add both to tomatoes.
- Drizzle with vinegar and oil.
- Sprinkle with feta,parsley and dried seasonings.
- Stir to evenly mix.
- Let stand at room temperature.
- Meanwhile, fill a large saucepan with water and bring to a boil over high heat.
- Add pasta and cook according to package directions.
- Add raisins (if using) to boiling pasta water for last minute of cooking.
- Before draining, ladle out 1/4 cup (50 mL) pasta water.
- Drain pasta and raisins, then add to tomatoes and stir.
- If pasta is too dry, stir in some of water. Spoon into bowls and sprinkle with pine nuts.
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Reviews
-
Lovely pasta! I found it midway that my feta was moudy. Instead I added boccocini and some freshly grated parmesan (for sharper and saltier flavour). Still the flavours were great. Feta cheese would for sure be the right kind of cheese and I plan to make it again as soon as I get some Feta cheese in the kitchen. -
This was easy to throw together and I love the use of fresh ingredients. I forgot to buy yellow tomatoes and substituted a yellow bell pepper from the garden. After draining the pasta, I stirred in the raisins and there was enough moisture and heat to plump them up but still retain their dark color. Grana padano cheese for feta (was out of that too and didn't know it.) If I had had fresh basil on hand it would have been delicious in this dish bu the fresh parsley and fresh oregano from the garden were good, no doubt about it. Reviewed for Veg Tag August. -
Wow this was good! Like the other reviewers, I used only red tomatoes because I couldn't find the yellow. I loved the balance of sweet (raisins) and salty (feta), and the texture of the pine nuts. Everything worked so well together. I used golden raisins, kalamata olives and whole wheat fusilli.
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It's a refreshing and healthy way to eat pasta. I did add the optionals. All the flavors really go together. I used only red cherry tomatoes and we added the feta at the table because not everyone here likes it. And I used fresh garlic instead of powder. Thanks for the recipe. -
I would highly recommend this lovely and colourful salad. Frankly, the pine nuts and raisins really make it, so don't give into temptation to leave those ingredients out. Cherry tomatoes are so much more flavourful than others, so it's worth the expense, though I couldn't find yellow ones and just used 2 pints of red. Extremely tasty!
