- Prep time
- 0:20
- Cook time
- 1:10
- Skill level
- Low
- Serves
- 4–6
This pasta salad, with slow-roasted tomatoes, fresh corn and basil, is a rosy salute to summer.
Often I'll make a big batch and we'll eat it on a picnic rug in the garden, the kids swatting away mosquitoes while hanging off tree branches. Dessert will be a bowl of cherries, some watermelon or an apricot. We'll stay up way too late. Summer holidays.
I added cannellini beans to the recipe for extra fibre and protein, but also because they're delicious — particularly when bathed in sticky tomato juice. You can leave them out if you wish. Indeed, feel free to play around with the ingredients; sliced Kalamata olives are a great addition (see tips below), as is a handful of rocket.
Tips:
- Adjust vinaigrette to your taste: I like the vinaigrette to be very simple and very acidic for this dish, as I find the pasta and beans call out for such a preparation. You're welcome to adjust the vinaigrette to suit your tastes, adding 1–2 teaspoons of Dijon mustard or even a heaped tablespoon of pesto.
- If you like olives: Pitted, sliced Kalamata olives are a nice addition to the pasta salad, and can be used in place of the corn, though if doing so you may wish to tone down the amount of vinegar in the vinaigrette (as the olives will bring their own sharp flavour). Taste as you go, you can always add more vinegar at the end.
- Canned corn can be used in place of fresh: Just beware that fresh corn gives more of a crunch, so the texture of the dish will change.
- Add some greens: Sometimes I will add a big handful of rocket to the dish — the kids groan but the adults rejoice.
- Don't throw away the garlic: The garlic cloves help flavour the tomatoes and beans, and once cooked can be peeled and eaten as a chef's treat (if roasted garlic is your thing), or smashed onto toast then drizzled with olive oil and salt.
- For food safety purposes, refrigerate the pasta within an hour of cooking and eat within three days.
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Ingredients
Method
- 1.Preheat the oven to 160˚C. (fan-forced) and put a large pot of water on to boil for the corn and pasta.
- 2.Place the sliced cherry tomatoes and garlic (skin on) in a baking tray with high sides (ideally one that fits all the tomatoes snug without allowing them to pile on top of one another). Pour over ⅓ cup oil and a pinch of salt, then toss to combine.
- 3.Roast the tomatoes in the oven for 30 minutes, then remove from the oven and add the cannellini beans with a small pinch of salt. Stir, then place the baking tray back in the oven for a final 15–20 minutes until the tomatoes are soft and sticky-looking, and the beans are golden with a pink/red tinge from the tomato juice. Keep an eye on the garlic and remove when golden, soft and cooked through (depending on the size of your cloves, this might be between 30–50 minutes).
- 4.While the tomatoes are roasting, cook the corn in the boiling water for 5 minutes until just tender. Carefully remove the corn from the water and set aside, then salt the water and add the pasta and cook until al dente, then drain.
- 5.While the pasta is cooking, make a simple shallot vinaigrette by adding the chopped shallot to a jar for which you have a lid. Add the vinegar, 2 tablespoons of oil and a tiny pinch of salt. Put the lid on the jar and shake well.
- 6.Place the drained pasta in a large serving bowl and add 1–2 tablespoons of the shallot vinaigrette, stirring to combine.
- 7.Once the tomatoes and beans are cooked, pour over the pasta, including all the pan juices. Stir to combine. Shave the corn kernels off the cob and add them to the bowl and stir. Pour over ⅔ of the remaining shallot vinaigrette and stir. Taste some of the pasta and add more vinaigrette as desired. Crumble over the cheese, scatter the basil and serve.
Posted