Spaghetti L’Estate

While there’s still some tomatoes and basil left growing outside, try this wonderful, easy, no-cook pasta dish–Spaghetti L’Estate. Estate means summer in Italian and, truthfully, it’s a quintessential summer dish. Truthfully even more, I forgot to post this recipe at the end of summer. But as long as there are still  tomatoes on the vine and basil in the garden, this dish is good to go.

No-cook Fresh Pasta Sauce

This recipe has also been called spaghetti caprese because the sauce has all the elements of insalata caprese. I learned to make it in Rome and have loved it ever since. In the time it takes to boil the water and cook the pasta, you can prepare the sauce.  Eat the pasta by itself as a refreshing meatless dish or pair it with grilled chicken or steak.

Cube the mozzarella and place it in the freezer for ten minutes. This sets it up so when the hot spaghetti hits it in the bowl, the cheese doesn’t become a gooey mess. There’s a school of thought that recommends just keeping the mozzarella chilled, not frozen, so that it melts like the cheese on top of pizza.  It’s purely a personal preference.

While the pasta cooks, place the olive oil in a large bowl along with torn basil leaves. Chop the tomatoes and add them to the bowl. Drain the cooked pasta and pour it into the bowl. Toss and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve the pasta with Parmesan cheese and enjoy.