The best Bruschetta Pasta Salad with fresh cherry tomatoes, garlic, lemon and basil. An easy and simple summery recipe to keep on rotation during the hot and long summer days.
Slice the cherry tomatoes in half and add them too a bowl with the grated garlic, olive oil and the juice from 2 lemons. (Optional: add the zest from 1 lemon for extra zing if desired). Sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt and mix well. Allow to sit and macerate and room temperature while you cook the pasta.
4 cups cherry tomatoes, 4-6 cloves garlic, 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil + more as needed, 2 lemons
Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil and generously season with a heavy pinch of coarse salt. Add the pasta shells and cook until al dente following the directions on the package. Drain in a colander and immediately rinse well under cold water.
1 lb whole wheat pasta shells or orecchiette
Drain the pasta very well and add it to a large mixing bowl together with the marinated cherry tomatoes and all their juices / marinade. Toss to combine and stir in the basil. Taste and adjust seasonings with more lemon, olive oil and sea salt. Add a pinch of red chili flakes for heat and enjoy.
4 cups cherry tomatoes, 1/2 cup fresh basil, 2 lemons, 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil + more as needed
Notes
Tomatoes - Sweet and juicy cherry tomatoes are ideal in this recipe, you can go all red or a mix of sun gold and black cherry varieties. If you don’t mind dicing you could opt for any large and juicy heirloom tomatoes that will yield lots of flavorful juices to mix with the lemon olive oil dressing.
Pasta water - If you salt your pasta water well meaning it should taste like sea water, then you won’t even need to add any extra salt when seasoning your salad.
Garlic - Make sure to use a microplane and grate the garlic cloves into a paste. This is a garlic heavy dish but if you have any sensitivity start with a couple of cloves at first and work your way up from there.
Pasta shapes - I love using whole wheat sea shell pasta or orecchiette here that are similar in size to the cherry tomatoes, however this recipe could also work with shellbows, calamarata, campanelle or penne rigate.