I really enjoy making this dish as it’s so quick – the sauce doesn’t need to be cooked, it just gets warmed through. Its dead simple, and an absolute celebration of the summer months. Personally I like to use fusilli, but spaghetti, linguine, bucatini, farfalle or penne also work well, so feel free to use any of these types of pasta.

Summer tomato pasta (Jamie at Home)

Serves 4

 

500g dried fusilli
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
75g butter, cubed
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
a large bunch of mixed soft fresh herbs (like green and purple basil, marjoram, flat-leaf parsley, thyme tips and oregano), leaves picked, a few baby leaves reserved, the rest thoroughly chopped
600g mixed cherry tomatoes, roughly chopped
extra virgin olive oil
 

Pour some boiling water from the kettle into a pan over the heat and add the pasta and some salt. Place a large metal or earthenware bowl on top of the pan. Put the butter, balsamic vinegar and chopped herbs in the bowl and warm until the butter has melted. Now squeeze in the tomatoes, season with salt and pepper, then remove the bowl from the pan and put to one side. Give the pasta a stir.

With clean hands, really scrunch the tomatoes and all the flavours in the bowl together. Have a little taste and decide whether it needs some more seasoning or vinegar.

When the pasta is cooked according to the packet instructions, drain it in a colander, reserving some of the cooking water. Tip the pasta into the bowl with your tomatoes and stir the sauce into the pasta. Drizzle with a good glug of extra virgin olive oil, loosen with some of the reserved cooking water if need be, and sprinkle over the reserved baby herb leaves. Lovely with some olives thrown in.

“Jamie’s recipes are taken from the following books by Jamie Oliver and published by Michael Joseph; Jamie’s Italy. Copyright © Jamie Oliver 2005; Photographs copyright © David Loftus 2005; Cook with Jamie. Copyright © Jamie Oliver 2006; Photographs copyright © David Loftus 2006; and Jamie At Home. Copyright © Jamie Oliver 2007; Photographs copyright © David Loftus 2007