No Cook Tomato Pasta Sauce
The freshness of summertime heirloom tomatoes is hard to capture in a pasta sauce, but I tried to do it in this no cook version. By salting the tomatoes and letting them sit in their juices, you create a natural fresh sauce that is almost a cross between a pasta sauce and a pasta salad! Every bite has the magic of pure summer tomato bliss.
The inspiration for this recipe
Fresh heirloom tomatoes are finally starting to pop up at the farmers markets here in Boston. I love eating during farmers market season, but I don’t really blog the recipes. That’s because when you have such amazing ingredients this time of year, you don’t want to mess with them too much, but my website is focused on over the top recipes! Eating a tomato with some salt and olive oil isn’t really an exciting blog post for my brand. I set out to create a recipe that could feature the freshness of the tomatoes in a no cook pasta sauce that would still be personal to me, and this is what I came up with
Season the tomatoes
Cut the tomatoes and season them with salt, celery salt, celery seed, and oregano. Why the celery? Well the first version of this recipe actually used celery juice. I loved the flavor combo! The issue is this no cook tomato pasta sauce is already juicy enough so when I revisited it, I added the celery flavor in a different way. Sitting in the salt, the tomatoes will release their juices. The last photo here is after it sits for 2 hours and you can see all the tomato juices! I like to use a blend of heirloom tomatoes for this, you can learn more about the different varieties here.
Make the potato butter
Wait what? Potato butter? I tried a few different ways to get all that tasty tomato juice from above to cling to the pasta and not just be watery. After a few tests, the best way for me was to use dehydrated potato to thicken the sauce. I mixed some garlic, chili flakes, and potato flakes into the butter.
Finish the no cook tomato sauce
Add parmesan and the potato butter to the tomato mixture to finish the no cook tomato pasta sauce.
Then add the pasta to the sauce and toss it all together!
Serving the no cook tomato pasta sauce
I like to serve this immediately so it is warm. It doesn’t need to be hot though in my opinion. It really feels like a cross between a pasta salad and a pasta dish and I love it!
This no cook tomato pasta sauce is the perfect thing to use those late summer tomatoes!
Twists on this recipe
You could simmer the tomatoes a little if you really wanted to concentrate the flavors. I would personally still do the first step letting the tomato juices form, then cook it about 10 minutes before adding the butter and butter ingredients. Then toss in the pasta and cheese. You could also use basil if you want, I like oregano with this.
For more of my favorite pastas, check out my meatball stuffed rigatoni, gochujang vodka sauce, or this crispy chicken satay bucatini.
No Cook Tomato Pasta Sauce
Ingredients
- 4 large heirloom tomatoes
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 3 stalks fresh oregano
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon celery salt
- 1/2 teaspoon celery seed
- 1/4 cup melted butter
- 2 cloves garlic grated
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 2 tablespoons dehydrated mashed potato flakes
- 1 cup grated parm
- 16 ounces bucatini
Instructions
- Chop all the tomatoes and add them to a large bowl with the salt, pepper, oreganos, celery salt, and celery seed. Set aside for at least one hour.
- Melt the butter and stir in the garlic, pepper flakes, and potatoes
- Add the parm and the butter mixture to the tomatoes.
- Cook the pasta in salted water. When the pasta is just about done, reserve 1/4 cup of the pasta cooking liquid.
- Strain the pasta and add it to the tomato mixture immediately. Add in the pasta cooking liquid and stir everything to combine.
Very funny! Looks good too!
Looks delish! Is this served cold? Really love the site BTW and check it every day!
I liked it warm, not hot, but its good cold too
YUM! Loved the animation. That cute ‘lil tomato got away lol 🙂
Very yummy!!!