Description
Savor the delightful taste of Lemony Cherry Tomato Pasta, a quick and healthy option featuring fresh ingredients. Perfect for a weeknight dinner or a comforting meal any time!
Ingredients
Scale
- 8 ounces uncooked pasta (pappardelle)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 large cloves garlic, pressed or finely minced
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or more to taste
- 1 pound (450g) cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more to taste
- freshly cracked black pepper
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice + zest of 1 lemon
- optional garnishes: chopped fresh basil, freshly-grated parmesan, extra black pepper
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil for the pasta.
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat and sauté garlic, tomato paste, and red pepper flakes for 2 minutes until fragrant.
- Add halved cherry tomatoes, salt, and black pepper to the skillet, stirring briefly to combine. Cook until tomatoes start to soften.
- Drop the pasta into the boiling water and cook until just shy of al dente. Reserve 3/4 cup of starchy pasta water before draining the pasta.
- Combine the drained pasta with the tomato sauce in the skillet, adding reserved pasta water as needed until the pasta is well coated.
- Remove from heat, toss in lemon zest and juice, and season to taste with salt and pepper before serving with garnishes.
Notes
Feel free to adjust the amount of red pepper flakes according to your heat preference.
Fresh basil and parmesan cheese make excellent additions to this dish and enhance its flavor.
Make sure to reserve pasta water; it helps in achieving the desired sauce consistency.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 500
- Sugar: 5g
- Sodium: 900mg
- Fat: 15g
- Saturated Fat: 2g
- Unsaturated Fat: 13g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 72g
- Fiber: 3g
- Protein: 12g
- Cholesterol: 0mg