Rachel Roddy’s pasta with courgette, onion and raw tomato salsa is a dish that treats pasta like salad leaves, tossing it gently with a fresh, room-temperature sauce. The recipe is inspired by Neapolitan cooking, specifically the concept of vermicelli all’insalata, where pasta is combined with raw tomato sauces suitable for hot days.
The Concept: Pasta All’Insalata
Jeanne Caròla Francesconi’s encyclopaedic book on Neapolitan food includes half a dozen recipes for pasta with raw tomato sauces. The standout is vermicelli all’insalata, which means “like a salad.” This reminds us that the key is to treat pasta like salad leaves, tossing it gently but thoroughly with tasty condiments and dressing.
Two Recipes Combined
This dish merges two recipes from cooking lessons at the old Latteria Studio: pasta with courgette and pasta with double tomato sauce. The courgette softened in plenty of olive oil with spring onion forms the warm element, while a raw, juicy salsa of tomato, garlic, and herbs provides the room-temperature component.
Tomato Salsa: Holiday Sauce
Chef and writer Valentina Harris calls this type of sauce sugo di vacanza (holiday sauce). Diced tomatoes are left macerating in oil, herbs, and sometimes olives, capers, or minced anchovies while everyone goes to the beach. After a few hours, the bowl of magnificently juicy red bits is ready to be mixed with pasta.
Use a selection of tomatoes: sweet cherry tomatoes, fleshier varieties, and a harder, slightly green tomato for texture. Courgettes should be smaller dark green or pale green/yellow varieties, which tend to be sweeter and juicier. When softening courgettes, add some starchy pasta cooking water to help soften them and bind the sauce.
Pasta Shapes
Both long and short shapes work: long thin ones like spaghetti, spaghettini, capelli d’angelo, or maccheroncini di campofilone; and shapes that catch sauce, such as farfalle, radiatori, fusilli, orecchiette, or cavatelli.
Recipe: Pasta with Courgette, Spring Onion and Raw Tomato Salsa
Serves 4. Ingredients: 2 large courgettes, 3-4 spring onions, 400g ripe tomatoes, 7 tbsp olive oil, 1 small handful basil leaves (ripped), 1 pinch dried oregano, 1/2 small garlic clove (peeled and finely minced), salt, 450g linguine, spaghetti, pici, farfalle, or radiatori.
Bring a large pan of water to a boil. Top and tail courgettes, then grate or cut into slender batons. If grated, wrap in a tea towel and squeeze out excess water. Trim spring onions and finely slice both green and white parts. Finely dice tomatoes, catching juices, and mix with 3 tbsp olive oil, basil, oregano, garlic, and salt. Leave to sit.
Salt the pasta water, add pasta, and cook according to packet instructions. In a large frying pan or wok, gently warm 4 tbsp olive oil, add spring onion, and sauté to soften. Add courgettes, stir, and fry gently for about 5 minutes, adding starchy pasta water to soften rather than brown. The courgettes should be soft with a small amount of oily juices.
Lift pasta directly into the courgette pan, toss vigorously to coat and emulsify, then add diced tomato and stir again. Tip into a large bowl or platter and add more basil for colour.
Serving Suggestions
As with salad, toss again before serving so juices coat the pasta. Add more olive oil if needed, and plenty of ripped basil. For a tricolour pasta all’insalata, add blobs of ricotta or ripped mozzarella.
