This easy recipe for pasta with Brie and tomatoes is a summertime classic, full of the flavors of cheese and basil and sweet tomato! The heat of the pasta melts the cheese into a light sauce that will have them clamoring for seconds.
This is my favorite summer recipe EVER. It is adapted from the Silver Palate Cookbook — that first one that everyone bought back in the 1980’s when this wonderful series of cookbooks first appeared. If yours is like mine, the binding is cracked and the pages are falling out and you can’t get a new one because you have all these notes and memories marked on the pages, and sentimental splotches of meals gone by staining the pages…and I STILL haven’t made everything I want to make out of this classic cookbook.
But I have made this one, probably 50 times over the years, because it is simple and gorgeous and tastes like heaven on a summertime plate. Let’s make it!
You do have use really great fresh ingredients to make it work. Really good basil, which I have more than I can use right outside my back door, so if you need any PLEASE come on over and pick some!
Really good olive oil. Fresh ripe local tomatos. A really nice wedge of Brie – a soft creamy one, not too hard. There is a variety of Brie called D’Affinois that will make you close your eyes in bliss if you can find it — ask wherever you go to get good cheese.
And the pasta of your choice. I usually use linguine, but a short round pasta like rigatoni would work, or even bow-ties. Fresh garlic. Fresh ground pepper. And unlike most things that I make, this is not one that should be rushed — the assembly is speedy, but the ingredients need to marinate and blend for maximum effect.
So first, get out a nice big shallow bowl. Pour about 1/2 cup of olive oil in it. Chop up a clove or two of garlic, depending on how much of a garlic fan you are, and add them to the oil.
Now take about 3 large tomatos and chop them up as well — bite-size chunks — and drop them in as well. Cut the rind off the Brie (this is best done when it is right out the fridge) and tear the cheese into small chunks. Into the bowl it goes.
This easy recipe for pasta with Brie and tomatoes is a summertime classic, full of the flavors of cheese and basil and sweet tomato! Next, chop up a good amount of that fresh basil and add to the bowl with everything else. Last of all, grind a few twists of fresh pepper into the whole thing. By now you have a gorgeous mixture that is making your kitchen smell unbelievably good.
Now comes the hard part — lay a dish towel lightly over the top of the bowl…and go away for at least an hour. We must MARINATE. Let all those delicious components soak together and blend. An hour is the minimum. I have made this at lunchtime and left it on the counter until dinner, with strict warnings all around not to TOUCH it.
When you are ready to serve it up, cook whatever pasta you are using in salted water until it is done. Drain it and then pour it into the bowl and lightly toss it all together, and here is the most beautiful part: the heat of the cooked pasta will melt the cheese and it will all form the most delicious sauce you have ever tasted in your life. You have my solemn word on this.
So there you go — my favorite pasta recipe in the world. Enjoy!
PrintPasta with Brie and Tomatoes
This easy recipe for pasta with Brie and tomatoes is a summertime classic, full of the flavors of cheese and basil and sweet tomato!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 2–3 cloves garlic, chopped
- 2–3 large tomatoes, cut into chunks
- 6–8 ounces Brie cheese, rind removed and torn into pieces
- 1/2 cup basil, chopped
- Fresh ground pepper
- 8 ounces pasta (I like linguine for this recipe, but any shape will do)
Instructions
- Pour oil into a large bowl, and add garlic, tomatoes, cheese, basil and a grinding of fresh pepper. Cover with a dish towel and let marinate for at least an hour.
- Cook pasta in salted water according to package directions. Drain and add to the bowl. Toss everything with tongs until the cheese has just started to melt.
- Divide among bowls and serve at once. Twirl around your fork. Be very happy.
Luci's Morsels says
This recipe sounds so light and delicious! Love the idea of using brie in a pasta!
Luci’s Morsels | fashion. food. frivolity.
Kate says
I would use Brie in pretty much everything I cook if I could get away with it. :)
Anne Lemieux says
I have zucchini and yellow squash in the fridge. Maybe an orange carrot and a purple carrot also. Noodles are not my friend! I am going to use a julienne peeler to make “pasta” and cook in a small amount of duck fat quickly to make my ” zucchini noodles and carrot noodles” I don’t have brie, I do have small Mozzarella balls I will cut into quarters instead. Marinate for several hours the garlic (I have some black garlic also that I will dice up to go in)
Kate says
Love the veggie noodles twist you are making me think about. :)
Emily says
HI I am going to make this recipe this weekend. I was wondering if you ever make it with another kind of pasta? I was considering a bow tie or something that isn’t a long noodle.
Kate says
I actually go back and forth between long pasta and bow ties on this one – the bow ties are perfect and a little easier to eat (bonus points!)
Todd says
Serving this tonite…can’t wait. Anyone around to suggest a nice wine with this. It is very hot here today, so…maybe a nice Rose or ???
Any suggestions would be so appreciated.
todd
Kate says
Todd, what about a nice cool prosecco? That’s my favorite summer beverage. :)
Todd says
Hooray…thank you…I am so glad I found this recipe. Years ago, some friends made this for my partner and I. It was to die for. they gave us the recipe. But, after all these years, I have no idea where it went. But, I had the basic idea in my head. Looking around on the net, I found similar recipes, but…I KNOW that this is it. And, after reading the comments from others who have made it, I am 100000% sure that this is the one I have been looking for. Thank you!
Kate says
Isn’t it the best? I make it WAY more than I should every summer…it’s a classic! Glad you found it (and Framed Cooks!)
FramedCooks says
AmandaDawn, hope you love and adore it as much as I do! It’s one of the recipes I make over, and over, and over. :)
FramedCooks says
AmandaDawn, hope you love and adore it as much as I do! It’s one of the recipes I make over, and over, and over. :)
AmandaDawn says
Mmhh. I just had alfredo pasta last night with scallops. My alfredo was chunky and a little life-less. So I ventured over to PW’s website to see how to make it better. Natch it lead me to you. . . and I want to try THIS pasta tonight. But it will have to wait a while. Like until I run a marathon to burn off the pasta from last night. But your marinated pasta is sooo on the Hit list next. :)