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Pasta with Fresh Tomatoes, Capers and Herbs
The tiny Italian island of Pantelleria off the coast of Sicily is the home of pesto pantesco, a puree of fruity olive oil, fresh tomatoes, leafy herbs, briny capers and pungent garlic. For a quick, summery dinner, we deconstructed the pesto and created a rustic no-cook sauce to toss with hot, just-drained pasta, creating a sort of pasta salad (the dish is warm, not hot, when served). Toasted almonds add crunch and pecorino cheese adds a sharpness that rounds out the flavors.
4 to 6
Servings
Tip
Don’t use pale, underripe tomatoes for this dish or the flavor will be lackluster. We find that in non-summer months, Campari tomatoes tend to be dependably good. After chopping the tomatoes, don’t discard the juices. Tip them from the cutting board into the bowl.
25 minutes
Ingredients
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1
pound ziti or rigatoni pasta
-
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
Directions
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01In a large pot, bring 4 quarts water to a boil. Add the pasta and 1 tablespoon salt, then cook, stirring occasionally, until al dente. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, stir together the oil, garlic, capers, pepper flakes and ½ teaspoon each salt and black pepper. Add the tomatoes, mint and basil, then toss.
Reviews
July 30, 2026
Perfect and easy summer eating
I saved this a while back but finally just made it, and OMG it’s so easy and good. My farm stand has a “ding and dent” table with very ripe but unloved tomatoes, perfect for this. The garlic slightly overwhelmed the herbs, but instead of cutting back on garlic next time I’ll amp up the herbs. Love the other reviewers’ suggestions for mix-ins.
August 10, 2023
Fantastic and Simple
This is one of my all time favorites as I am swimming in tomatoes right now. So fabulous. I have added kalmata olives and I think I like that version even better!! Way to go Milkstreet.
August 7, 2023
Excellent weeknight meal!
We added some artichoke hearts and fried pancetta and it was outstanding. Next time will try fried prosciutto instead of pancetta. The point is that there will be a next time...and a time after that...because this was an absolute delight, especially with summertime tomatoes!
May 9, 2026
So quick to make!
Doing the tomato prep work takes about as long as boiling the pasta. When the pasta is done, dinner is on! This was so simple and incredibly fresh. My husband insisted on 8 tomato plants in the garden this year, so I think we'll be having this quite often on hot summer days! I cut the recipe in half and had just enough for lunch the next day.
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