Easy Recipe for Crowd Pleasing Caprese Pasta

How do you turn Italy’s most iconic salad into a meal? Just add pasta, of course.

Caprese pasta with farfalle photo credit Emily Paster

Assembling a Caprese salad — or insalata caprese in Italian — with juicy, sun-ripened tomatoes is one of the great pleasures of summer. With just a handful of simple ingredients, mirroring the colors of the Italian flag, a Caprese salad calls for the very best in each class: tomatoes, basil, mozzarella and olive oil. But this flavor combination is too perfect to reserve for salad alone. While tomatoes are at their best, go ahead and give the Caprese treatment to all your favorite foods, from sandwiches to pasta.

History of Caprese Salad

Caprese salad in homemade by spiralmushroom is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

The origin of the Caprese salad, like so many iconic dishes, is a bit murky. But, the most widely accepted version traces the dish’s origin to the isle of Capri — hence the name — home to the opulent Grand Hotel Quisisana. In 1926, the hotel hosted a conference on futurism during which it served a Dinner of the Future, including the first known mention of the Caprese salad on a restaurant menu. While Caprese salad may not seem especially futuristic, it was in keeping with the views of Futurism’s founder Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, who favored a lighter diet and notoriously disdained pasta - in part because Italy, at the time, depended heavily on imported foreign wheat.

Caprese salad did not catch on right away, however, and the dish was mostly forgotten until the 1950’s when deposed Egyptian king Farouk, a famous gourmand, was staying at the hotel and requested something light to eat. One of the hotel’s cooks found, or remembered, the old recipe for a light, fresh salad featuring tomatoes, basil and mozzarella and presented it to the king. He reportedly loved the dish so much that he ate it every day for the rest of his stay. As Capri was a popular vacation destination at the time — as it still is today — it did not take long before the island’s tricolor salad became widely known in Italy and beyond as an elegant dish for a fashionable crowd.

Variations on a Theme

While Caprese salad originated as a light dish to serve before the main meal — what’s known as a cold antipasto in Italian cuisine — the classic combination of tomatoes, basil and mozzarella works equally well in all sorts of heartier fare. Indeed, a Caprese sandwich, in which the tomatoes, basil and mozzarella are encased in slices of baguette or ciabatta may be almost as beloved as the salad. And isn’t a Margherita pizza simply a Caprese salad in pizza form? Read more about using mozzarella on pizza.

With apologies to Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, pasta simply begs for the Caprese treatment. You can serve it warm as a main dish or at room temperature similar to a pasta salad for potlucks and cookouts. However you intend to serve it, be sure to let the pasta cool down before adding the mozzarella, which will melt otherwise, and especially the basil which can turn brown if exposed to steaming hot pasta.

As with any version, when making Caprese pasta use the very best ingredients available to you. During tomato season, use a variety of cherry and grape tomatoes from the farmers’ market, or better yet, your own garden. Cherry or grape tomatoes are preferable to large ones here because they contain less water and the smaller size makes them easier to spear onto your fork along with some pasta and cheese for that perfect bite. The quality of the olive oil makes a difference as well, so if you have a special bottle of fruity olive oil in the pantry, now is the moment to use it.

For the all-important cheese, fresh mozzarella, preferably one packaged in water or whey, is a must. Fior di latte mozzarella, made exclusively from cow’s milk, is the traditional choice when making Caprese salad; its creamy texture and mild flavor pairs beautifully with the other ingredients. Buffalo mozzarella tends to have a tangier flavor and springier texture than mozzarella made with cow’s milk and some Italians think that tomatoes overwhelm its unique flavor. However, if you can source Mozzarella di Bufala and are willing to pay a little extra for it, it is worth trying in this dish at least once. Lastly, don’t forget about burrata. If you are planning on serving the Caprese pasta warm, it is especially heavenly when made with burrata because the creamy interior coats the pasta. Learn about Mozzarella di Bufala from Buf, a dairy in Columbia.

Caprese Pasta with Garlic Recipe

This version of Caprese pasta combines two icons of Italian cuisine: aglio e olio pasta and the Caprese salad. Together they are more than the sum of their parts.

Serves 4 as a main course

1 lb. short pasta, such as penne, fusilli or farfalle

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

8 cloves garlic, sliced

1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes

1 lemon

1/2 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano

2 pints mixed cherry or grape tomatoes, halved

1 cup sliced basil

8 oz. fresh mozzarella (cut into pieces if not using pearls)

Black pepper to taste

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta until it is al dente and drain, reserving 1 cup of the pasta cooking water.
While the pasta is cooking, heat the olive oil over medium-low heat in a large saucepan or heavy skillet. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and sauté until fragrant and pale golden, about 3 minutes. (Do not let the garlic brown or it will become bitter.)
Add the drained pasta to the skillet with the garlic and toss to coat with the oil. Gradually add the reserved pasta cooking water and continue tossing the pasta until it is glossy and most of the liquid has either been absorbed or evaporated.
Add the zest and juice of the lemon and the Parmesan cheese to the pasta and toss once more to coat. Remove the skillet from the heat and transfer the pasta to a large serving bowl. Allow the pasta to cool for 5 to 7 minutes until it is warm, but no longer hot or steaming.
Add the tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella and toss to combine. Season with several grinds of black pepper. Serve warm or at room temperature.