I Can't Stop Making Ina Garten's No-Cook Summer Pasta Sauce

Ina Garten has a talent for taking a collection of simple ingredients and transforming them into a wow-worthy meal, and her Summer Garden Pasta recipe is no exception. The ingredients list is relatively short, using only cherry tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, basil, red pepper flakes, angel hair pasta, Parmesan, and of course salt and pepper. What makes this such a stand-out dish is the technique for creating the sauce, which requires no cooking but hours of marinating.

Get the Recipe: Summer Garden Pasta

Sweet cherry tomatoes are halved and then marinated for four hours with good olive oil, minced garlic, spicy red pepper flakes, plus salt and pepper. This causes the tomatoes to break down and release their natural juices, infusing the olive oil with plenty of tomato-y and garlicky flavor.

The best strategy is to prep the sauce during lunch time. Once the evening rolls around all you'll need to do is quickly cook up a pot of angel hair pasta. Then, simply toss it with the sauce and grated Parmesan to create a no-fuss dinner that everyone will love.

The great thing about this recipe is that it's easy to customize. No cherry tomatoes? Ripe heirloom varieties will be an equally flavorful alternative. All out of basil? Oregano is also great for an herbaceous punch.

The key is that since there are so few ingredients, you need to splurge on the highest quality varieties to make a dish that sings. No matter how you make it, we're sure after one bite this will be your new go-to summertime pasta sauce.

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