Name: Vegan Cherry Tomato Pasta
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 20 min
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 150 grams of pasta; 4 tablespoons olive oil; 6 garlic cloves (chopped); 250 grams of cherry tomatoes (sliced in halves); 100 grams of seedless olives (chopped); 12 fresh basil leaves; Salt and black pepper to taste.

Jump to Recipe

Here at Gentle Plate we like to make dishes with simple ingredients and execute them in a way that is doable for everyone.

This cherry tomato pasta is one example of a recipe that is very simple to make and if made properly, you should end up with a delicious meal that can be conveniently prepared in 20 minutes.

Watch the step by step video of the recipe:

📝 Ingredients I’ve used for this recipe

What I really love about Italian cuisine (and Mediterranean cuisine in general) is that you can cook something delicious without having too many ingredients at hand— in fact, you often just need pasta and a few veggies.

For instance, for this recipe I’ve used:

Pasta
Olive oil
Garlic
Cherry tomatoes
Olives (preferably seedless)
Fresh basil
Salt
Black pepper

This is basically what you need to make a delicious pasta dish, and it’s essentially what I’ve done here. I’m often busy working so it helps to have dishes that are easy to make— and less time-intensive.

👨🏻‍🍳 How I’ve made this cherry tomato pasta

To make delicious pasta, there’s something that must be highlighted before we move on— and that is: pasta must not be overcooked.

Personally, I like to cook my pasta ‘al dente’, which is basically an Italian term used to describe pasta that is tender but still firm and chewy. It’s basically well-done pasta— and I think those who are pasta lovers typically seek this texture.

To make this recipe, I started by filling a pot with water, seasoning it with a generous amount of salt, and bringing it to a boil.

When the water was boiling vigorously, I carefully added 150 grams of unbroken pasta. It’s crucial to submerge the pasta gently using a fork, ensuring it’s fully underwater. I covered the pot with a lid and cooked the pasta until it was al dente – tender yet slightly firm to the bite.

Meanwhile, as the pasta cooked, I finely chopped 6 cloves of garlic (you can chop them as finely or as coarsely as you’d like) and added them to a frying pan (though I prefer using a wok) with about 4 tablespoons of olive oil. I sautéed the garlic until it was soft, translucent, and lightly browned. Then, I added 250 grams of cherry tomatoes sliced in halves.

I cooked the cherry tomatoes, pressing them gently with a wooden spoon to release their juices, creating a sort of tomato sauce in the pan. Once the tomatoes were completely soft and most of their juice had been released, I stirred in 100 grams of sliced olives, seasoned with salt and black pepper, and let everything cook for a while longer (around 3-4 minutes).

It was at this stage that I used tongs to transfer the pasta from the pot to the pan, adding 1-2 tablespoons of the pasta’s starchy cooking water. I gently mixed everything in the pan to combine the flavors. Then, I finely chopped about 10-15 grams of fresh basil and stirred it into the pasta along with the other ingredients, infusing the dish with a delightful aroma and flavor.

Drizzle a bit more olive oil over the top for added richness and flavor before serving. That’s what I did!

💡 Some tips to help you get this recipe right

It’s not a lie that this recipe is incredibly simple, but I still want to leave you with one or two tips that might help you better execute it.

The first one is to properly salt your pasta’s cooking water. And that is because it actually seasons each noodle from the inside out, which completely enhances the dish and leads to a much more flavorful end result. And when I say properly, I mean it— you really want to add more than just a little bit of salt.

The second tip would be to actually taste your pasta as you cook to ensure you get the right texture. Don’t be afraid to taste your pasta every 1-2 minutes if you have to— the goal here is to get the right consistency and before you’re comfortable enough with cooking pasta, it’s imperative to taste it and get familiar with the right texture.

The third tip has nothing to do with the technicality of the dish but it has to do with finding an olive oil that is high-quality. For instance, I’m currently in Portugal, visiting my in-laws, and they actually produce their own olive oil — which is totally different from the watered-down stuff we buy in the supermarket.

It just brings the pasta to a whole different level, especially when you apply that final drizzle to the dish— but obviously, if you can’t find high-quality olive oil (not to mention that it’s very expensive), go with the regular one.