Warm Puttanesca Pasta Salad

I am impatient. This not-so-great quality of mine rears up when I have to wait for someone to show up to a meeting, when I agonize over how long it takes my children to exit the car when we're out running errands, and when I have to wait for truly awesome summer tomatoes to finally show up at the farmers market. Sure, there are so-called early varieties that pop up in May, but they never scratch the itch. They're just not juicy, tangy, or sweet enough. So as I impatiently wait for peak-season 'maters, I'll force things along to get my fix. In this warm pasta salad, I coax out summery flavor from cherry tomatoes, which are reliably sweet year-round. I salt them to draw out some juices, add red wine vinegar for more tang, and let them hang out in a bath of olive oil, shallots, and garlic. After about 20 minutes, a little pool of delicious tomato juices covers the bottom of the bowl. I use this liquid, plus a little pasta water, to finish and coat just-cooked casarecce pasta. (I love that shape, but you could use any short shape you like; I've also made this with trofie, rigatoni, and cavatappi.) And that's when all the fun puttanesca ingredients come into play. Anchovies are a necessity, giving the pasta a savory depth that you'd miss if you skipped them. (So please don't!) I go for Castelvetrano olives and add a generous handful; I love their buttery flavor, meaty texture, and lovely green color. A couple tablespoons of petite capers pull their weight, lending an unmistakable briny goodness. Fresh oregano, earthy and savory, and basil, bright and slightly sweet, round out the flavors.The finishing touch comes in the form of crunchy, salty pork. Prosciutto is crisped in the microwave (a quick hack that works surprisingly well) and crumbled over the pasta. No worries if you don't have a microwave: You can crisp the prosciutto in the oven (on a parchment-lined pan at 350°F for about 15 minutes). The finished dish is fresh, super-flavorful, good warm or at room temperature (with a glass of rosé), and perfect for a deck or patio dinner.

By

Ann Taylor Pittman

Ann Taylor Pittman

For 20 years, Ann Taylor Pittman built a career of creating healthy recipes at Cooking Light magazine, where she most recently served as Executive Editor. She is the recipient of two James Beard Foundation Awards: a feature writing award for "Mississippi Chinese Lady Goes Home to Korea" and a cookbook award for The New Way to Cook Light. She is now a freelancer specializing in recipe development, writing, and video. Ann lives in Birmingham, Alabama, with her husband, their 13-year-old twin boys, one big dog, and one little dog.

Experience: Before Ann became a food editor, she taught English at Mississippi State University. Ann translated her experience as an instructor into a career teaching people how to be better at cooking healthy food during her 20-year tenure at Cooking Light. She was nominated for a James Beard Award for her feature "7 Simple Ways to Become a Better Cook" in 2014. Ann is now a freelance recipe developer, food writer, and video content producer pursuing new opportunities to share her expertise in healthy cooking, love of the South, and passion for food and drink. As a mother of two boys and the primary cook for her family, she wants to set them up with good patterns of eating that will take them through to adulthood.

Education: Ann is a graduate of Mississippi State University. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English Language and Literature and a Master of Arts in English.

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Published on April 29, 2019

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