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I've never been a big fan of Summer. I'm more of a Winter girl, personally. But, one of the things I have to admit that I really do love about Summer is all of the amazing produce that is in season. Strawberries, squash, corn, avocados.....the list goes on. And, then there's the tomato. I mean, who doesn't love a tomato in some shape or form?! If you love tomatoes, or you have a home garden and have lots of tomatoes that you are looking to use, you will LOVE this recipe. It's simple, healthy, and delicious!
INGREDIENTS
- Roughly 1.5 lbs of baby or cherry tomatoes of your choice
- 1 lb. box of whole grain pasta (I used rotini)
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil for pasta, plus extra to drizzle over the tomatoes before roasting
- 1/2 - 1 cup balsamic vinegar (you can substitute red wine vinegar)
- One 15.25 oz can of white corn, drained
- 1/2 small/medium red onion, finely chopped
- One 2.25 oz can of sliced olives, drained
- Chopped fresh basil to taste
- Sea salt to taste
- Cracked black pepper to taste
DIRECTIONS
- Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
- Rinse and dry the tomatoes and then slice them all in half. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Place the tomato slices on the cookie sheet, cut side up, so the sheet is full, but the tomatoes are not touching. You don't want them to be too crowded. Drizzle the tomatoes lightly with extra virgin olive oil and then sprinkle with sea salt and cracked black pepper. Place in the oven and roast for roughly 20 minutes. When they are done roasting, pull them out of the oven and set them aside to cool.
- Boil water and cook pasta, per directions on the box. I like to salt the water for taste, and add a little olive oil to keep the water from foaming over. Also, be sure to stir the pasta after adding it to the water, and a few times while cooking, to prevent the noodles from sticking together. After the pasta is cooked, drain the noodles and transfer to a large, heat-safe bowl. Add the 1/4 cup of olive oil and stir, to coat the noodles and prevent sticking. Set aside to cool. Stirring the pasta occasionally will help the pasta cool a little faster.
- After the pasta has cooled to room temperature, you can begin adding the other ingredients. At this point, you can also place the cookie sheet with the tomatoes in the freezer while you are adding the other ingredients. This will help the tomatoes to retain their shape when you mix them in.
- Add the vinegar to the pasta and stir. Start with 1/2 cup and then add the rest gradually to get it to the taste that you like. You can adjust to add more or less, depending on your liking. Keep in mind that the pasta will soak up the liquids and that the vinegar taste will mellow a little as the pasta sits, especially if you are making this ahead of time and eating the next day or throughout the week.
- Add the salt and pepper to taste and stir.
- Add the corn, red onion, olives, and basil and stir. I used about a quarter cup of chopped basil, but you can adjust to your liking.
- Lastly, remove the tomatoes from the freezer, if you chose to do this step, and add the tomatoes to the pasta salad. Stir gently to not break the tomatoes. And, you're finished! You can serve this pasta salad cold, or at room temperature. I prefer it at room temperature. If serving immediately, you can garnish with a little extra fresh basil. This will keep in the fridge for at least 5 days.
If you do not have fresh tomatoes, you can also substitute in chopped sun dried tomatoes and it is just as delicious.
If you are on the 21 Day Fix meal plan, one serving size is a red container of the pasta salad and the containers counted are 1 yellow, 1/2 green, 1/2 teaspoon.