Angel Hair Pasta
Published July 9, 2024
- Total Time
- 30 minutes
- Prep Time
- 10 minutes
- Cook Time
- 20 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
Salt
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons butter
1 pound cherry tomatoes, halved
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 shallot, minced
Freshly ground black pepper
Crushed red pepper (optional)
1 pound angel hair pasta
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley or 2 teaspoons dried parsley
2 tablespoons minced fresh basil or 2 teaspoons dried basil
Freshly grated Parmesan, for serving
Preparation
- Step 1
Heat a large pasta pot of salted water to a boil.
- Step 2
To a large pan over medium heat, add olive oil and butter. Allow the butter to melt, then add cherry tomatoes. Cook until tomatoes are beginning to soften and the skins are a little blistered, 4 to 6 minutes.
- Step 3
Add garlic, shallot, 1 teaspoon each of kosher salt and black pepper, and a pinch of red pepper, if using, and toss to combine with the tomatoes. Cook for about 6 minutes, until the shallots are translucent and the tomatoes are fully softened yet still intact. Meanwhile, add pasta to the boiling salted water and cook until al dente according to the packaging directions, about 2 minutes. Reserve 1 cup of pasta water, then strain the pasta.
- Step 4
Add the cooked pasta, herbs and a bit of the reserved pasta water to the pan and cook for 2 minutes, stirring to combine, until you have a glossy pasta sauce; add more pasta water slowly, if needed. Serve topped with plenty of Parmesan.
Private Notes
Comments
Close, but a miss. Do yourself a favor and make the noodles slightly more undercooked than al dente, and also add very-ripe tomatoes in the instructions. Why? When you add the semi-cooked pasta and cook it in the sauce, it will finish cooking and soak up the sauce+seasoning. This imparts the savorfy seasoning and flavor into the spaghetti noodles.
This was good but, as others have indicated, the pasta to tomatoes ratio is way off. If using 1 lb of pasta as called for by the recipe, I would recommend 2lbs of tomatoes. Also, I doubled the shallots (b/c I like shallots) as well as the herbs.
Throw in an anchovy or two with the garlic to up the umami.
Loved this! I incorporated some of the comments about doubling tomatoes and seasonings and undercooking the pasta, and the result was delicious! Made 1.5 times the pasta and it fed 7 hungry family members.
Love this! Have made it 3 times in 3 weeks. The notes are spot on. Double or triple the tomatoes. The pepper flakes add a lot. As does the shallot. Don’t skimp. The parsley is an unexpected burst of fresh flavor. It tastes like summer. Used tomatoes warm from my garden with garden herbs. DELISH!
Delicious! I made this tonight with fresh cherry tomatoes and herbs from the garden. After reading the wonderful comments, I made the full sauce recipe with 1/2 lb angel hair pasta. I did opt for the pinch of crushed red pepper in Step 3. I also added 2 Tbsp of fresh squeezed lemon juice with the herbs and pasta water in Step 4. So good!

