Vegan Pasta Fredda with capers

Do you know Pasta Fredda? This “cold pasta” is from Sicily. We often make Pasta Fredda when it’s really hot in summer. Because in Pasta Fredda, only the pasta is cooked. The sauce stays cold. If you mix the whole thing, you get a lukewarm dish – which doesn’t heat up the body that much, even when it’s very hot outside. On top of that, a Pasta Fredda is quickly made. My recipe is vegan and a bit more refined than the sicilian classic – the ingredients for the sauce are braised a little bit (the Italians call it “soffritto”), only the tomatoes remain raw.

Pasta Fredda with tomatoes, capers and pine nuts

For 4 persons

• 400-500 g short pasta, e.g. penne or orecchiette
• 400-500 g tomatoes
• 1 fresh clove of garlic
• ½ pot of basil
• 1 peperoncino pepper, dried
• 2 tbsp salted capers
• peel from ½ lemon
• olive oil
• 3 tbsp pine nuts
• salt
• optional: 2-3 tbsp olives

Cook the pasta al dente in well salted water according to the package instructions. Wash and quarter the tomatoes, remove the stem base and cut the tomatoes into cubes.

For the soffritto, peel and chop the garlic, chop a few stalks of basil and the peperoncino as well. Braise everything at a very low temperature – together with capers and lemon peel in about 4 tbsps of olive oil in a small pot for a few minutes.

In the meantime, roast the pine nuts in a pan with a few drops of oil until they start to turn fragrant or light golden brown. Attention: stir often so that the small seeds do not burn.

Pluck the leaves from the remaining basil. Mix with the briefly drained pasta, tomatoes, soffritto and possibly olives (I prefer without olives). Season to taste with salt, if necessary add more olive oil. Serve the Pasta Fredda sprinkled with pine nuts.

Buon appetito!