Spaghetti with No-Cook Sauce
A tangle of spaghetti, olives, nuts, vegetables, and torn mozzarella in a no-cook, lemon-zested tomato sauce. A recipe for a hot night when tomato season is at its peak.
You can tell by the streak of tomato recipes here lately, I’m in the thick of it. And today is no exception. I made this for dinner last night, and if you have a box of spaghetti and some good tomatoes you’re half way there. What you see is a tangle of spaghetti, olives, nuts, vegetables, and torn mozzarella in a no-cook, lemon-zested tomato sauce. It’s bright, summery, colorful food, easy to adapt based on what you have on hand. The key? Make it on an extra hot night when tomato season is at its maximum. And don’t even mess around if your tomatoes aren’t on point.
So Many Variations!
This is a quintessential pantry meal. I added olives, pine nuts, and a bit of cheese to the base ingredients of spaghetti and tomatoes, but you can experiment with endless other directions. I love the pine nut component here, but toasted almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, or cashew would all be great. You could do a spicy version by adding a dollop of harissa to the sauce, or some chile flakes, or a tablespoon of toasted sesame chile oil. On the vegetable front, you see string beans pictured (because that's whats coming out of my garden right now), but load up on anything from broccoli and cauliflower florets, or asparagus - basically, any quick cooking veg that you can throw in the pasta water at the last minute.
The Spaghetti
Use your favorite spaghetti noodle here. I love a traditional spaghetti noodle, don't get me wrong, but one of the big surprises to me over the past few years is how good some of the whole grain and pulse-based pastas are. There is a wide range of brands around, so you'll need to experiment. My advice on this front is to "date around" until you find a few brands and shapes you like. For day to day pasta eating when you compare nutritional labels, the noodles made with more whole ingredients can deliver significantly more vitamins, minerals, fiber, protein and the like. So it's worth it to play around.
If you're looking for more tomato recipes, I posted this tomato tart recently. Try a fresh version of this tomato sauce. Make this favorite salsa. Or add them into a summery coleslaw. And you can never go wrong with gnocchi or classic bruschetta. If you're just looking for summery favorites, try this Grilled Zucchini & Bread Salad, this Pasta with Smashed Zucchini Cream, or this Zucchini Bread.
And if you're looking for a real treat, make this with homemade pasta. It's incredible. Enjoy!
More Pasta Recipes
- Cavatelli
- Harissa Spaghetti
- Penne alla Vodka
- Pici
- Beet Fettuccine
- Pasta with Etruscan Sauce
- Baked Ziti
- Pasta with Smashed Zucchini Sauce
- Mediterranean Pasta Salad
- Cavatelli
- Pasta with Crushed Creamy Walnut Sauce
- more pasta recipes
Premium Ad-Free membership includes:
-Ad-free content
-Print-friendly recipes
-Spice / Herb / Flower / Zest recipe collection PDF
-Weeknight Express recipe collection PDF
-Surprise bonuses throughout the year
Spaghetti with No-Cook Sauce
Use the best, most flavorful tomatoes you can find.
- 1 1/2 pounds ripe tomatoes (~3 large), quartered, seeds removed
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- scant teaspoon fine grain sea salt
- 2 lemons
- 1 pound whole grain spaghetti
- 1 pound string beans or broccoli florets
- 2/3 cup torn Kalamata olives
- 1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
- 1/2 pound cherry tomatoes, halved (~2 cups)
- 1 cup torn mozzarella
- Slivered fresh basil or fresh lemon verbena (or crushed dried lemon verbena), to serve
-
Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
-
In the meantime, slice the larger tomatoes (1 1/2 pounds) into bite-sized chunks and place in a large serving bowl. Drizzle with the olive oil, sprinkle with the garlic, salt, and zest of one of the lemons. Squeeze a tablespoon of lemon juice into the mixture, and use a hand blender to pulse a few times, into a chunky sauce.
-
Salt the pasta water well, and cook the pasta per package instructions. Add the sting beans or broccoli to the pasta water in the last minute of cooking. Drain the pasta and vegetables and transfer to the bowl with the tomato sauce. Toss well. Add half the olives, half the pine nuts, and half of the cherry tomatoes. Add all of the mozzarella. Toss well, and top with the zest of the second lemon, and the remaining olives, pine nuts, and tomatoes.
-
Top with basil or lemon verbena & serve immediately.
Serves 6.
Related Recipes
Harissa Spaghetti
A unique and flavor-packed spaghetti recipe. Whole wheat pasta noodles, olives, kale, and toasted nuts are tossed in a pan for a tangle with a garlic-charged harissa and olive oil sauce. This one is an easy weeknight win!
Penne alla Vodka
This penne alla vodka uses both whole tomatoes and tomato paste along with a splash of cream to make a vodka sauce with plenty of depth. The defining detail in this recipe is adding the zest of a lemon to the vodka. It lends a fragrant brightness to the whole preparation, making this family favorite extra special.
Homemade Pasta
Everything I know about making homemade pasta. Four ingredients! If you have flour, two eggs, a splash of olive oil, and a bit of salt, you can do it right now.
Rustic Tomato Tart
A beautiful tomato tart layered with jammy, caramelized onions, laced with fresh basil. A rustic free-form tart perfect for summer.
Homemade Pesto
A vibrant pesto recipe taught to me by my friend Francesca's mother who came to visit from Genoa, Italy. This is how to make pesto like an Italian grandmother. Made with hand-chopped basil, garlic, Parmesan, olive oil and pine nuts. The real deal.
Pasta with Smashed Zucchini Cream
If you have an endless supply of zucchini right now, this is your recipe. A simple, garlic-boosted pasta, it uses two pounds of zucchini, and is endlessly adaptable.
Pasta with Etruscan Sauce
From the Pasta Grannies series, this is a simple pasta with a special sauce made from a quick puree of sun-dried tomatoes, black olives, parsley, and garlic. It's fast, strong, adaptable, and doesn't disappoint.
Five Minute Tomato Sauce
Great tomato sauce in a flash. A quick, simple, easy (and absolute favorite) tomato sauce recipe. Bright and clean flavors, a vibrant red in color, exudes the essence of tomatoes.
Post Your Comment
Comments
I adapted this tonight making a few changes using what we had on hand: I don’t eat garlic so I used some fennel powder instead. I prepared SfogliniI hemp radiators pasta and used string beans and zucchini as my vegetable add in. I served the dish with pecorino since we didn’t have any mozzarella and toasted sunflower seeds for the pine nuts. I gave our dishes a swirl of chili oil before serving and the dish was outstanding! Thank you for this lovely recipe.
Sounds absolutely amazing Nicole! I’m going to have to give your version a try next time!
Haven’t tried this yet, but I certainly will. My son planted tomatoes in our small garden this year, and they’re starting to come in. Last night I made clams with fresh tomato sauce, and with two college-age boys, it went so fast my wife almost didn’t get any…
Hi Heidi,
This was a great, easy, and delicious meal on a hot summertime night in a NYC quarantine. I followed the recipe exactly , but subbed feta for the mozz. It all came out delicious. Thanks!
Great!! So happy you enjoyed it!
More Recipes
Weekly recipes and inspirations.
Popular Ingredients