Stanley Tucci's 5-Ingredient Summer Pasta Has a Stunning No-Cook Sauce

Photo byEntertaining with Beth

When it comes to summer, Stanley Tucci doesn't hesitate to name his two favorite ingredients: tomatoes and basil. The actor's love for these staples--and for this simple 5-ingredient pasta recipe--goes back decades, all the way to his childhood:

I remember eating it with my parents when I was young and just loving it. They'd make it in the '70s and '80s on a Sunday in summer. Unbelievable."

Tucci has earned accolades for his acting, screenwriting and directing but he's perhaps best known for his love of Italian cuisine. He is Italian on both sides, lived in Tuscany for a year, and speaks Italian fluently. He's also fluent in Italian cuisine and has sampled native dishes from more than 20 regions across the country.

The best thing about this recipe? It's delicious. The second best thing about it is that the sauce requires no cooking. All you need to do is mix tomatoes, oil, garlic and basil in a bowl and let it marinate for about 20 minutes. As soon as the cold sauce combines with the hot pasta, the flavor begins to develop.

The hot pasta, in essence, sort of starts to cook the tomatoes in the bowl,” Tucci explains. “It’s so simple. And you have the cold tomato and the hot pasta. It’s incredible.”

Because the recipe uses only vegetables, herbs and spaghetti, it's a healthy variation on the Mediterranean diet. So cook up some of Tucci's pasta, pour yourself a glass of red wine and enjoy.

Stanley Tucci's Tomato & Basil Pasta

Ingredients

3-4 plum or Roma tomatoes, quartered

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 cloves garlic, finely diced

1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, torn

8 ounces dried pasta

Salt to taste

2 ounces of crumbled goat cheese or ricotta cheese (optional)

Lemon zest (optional)

Instructions

1. Combine tomatoes, oil, garlic, and basil in a medium bowl and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes.
2. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain.
3. Salt the marinated tomatoes to taste, then toss with the cooked pasta.
4. Serve topped with cheese and lemon zest, if desired.

Notes

I'm not a huge fan of goat cheese for this recipe. I prefer to use Parmesan or feta cheese instead.

This dish works well with any type of pasta. Try substituting linguine, penne or whatever kind you like best.

Tucci's most important tip for making the best pasta is not to overcook it: "On the package it will say cook for this amount of time, right? Eight minutes, 11 minutes, six minutes. But you have to taste it. You want it to be al dente, you want it to have just a little bit of a bite to it, but also remember when you take pasta out, it's going to continue to cook. So take it out just a little before you think you should take it out. And then by the time you get it all ready it'll be cooked the way you want it."

His second piece of advice is not to rinse your pasta--ever. "You're taking away all the flavor, all the beautiful starches."