Pasta Caprese

Name: Pasta Caprese
Yield: Serves 4 to 6
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 1/4 cup, extra-virgin olive oil; 2-4 teaspoons, fresh lemon juice (see note above); 1 , small garlic clove, minced or pressed through a garlic press (about 1/2 teaspoon); 1 , small shallot, minced fine (about 2 tablespoons); , Salt and ground black pepper; 1 1/2 pounds, ripe tomatoes, cored, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch dice; 12 ounces, fresh mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (see note above); 1 pound, penne pasta or other short tubular or curly pasta such as fusilli or campanelle; 1/4 cup, chopped fresh basil; 1 teaspoon, sugar (see note above)

24 comments

Appears in Cook's Illustrated July/August 2007, America's Test Kitchen TV

This summer dish combines ripe tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and fragrant basil with hot pasta. Preventing the cheese from turning into bubble gum presented a gooey problem.

SERVES4 to 6

TIME50 minutes, plus 45 minutes marinating

has video

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS

The problem with most of the pasta caprese recipes we tried was that the cheese clumped into an intractable softball-size wad in the bottom of the pasta bowl. We found the solution to this problem in the freezer. Dicing supermarket cheese a...

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