Summer Tomato Spaghetti with Burrata

.A colourful and light but creamy summer spaghetti – with a zesty tomato-oil sauce, herbs, pistachios and burrata. A tasty dinner for any summer evening!

We’re currently having the first of our heatwaves here in Melbourne. But blink and you’ll most likely miss it… unless you get stuck outside on a hellfire day…

There’s something about hot weather produce. It’s still tasty – when you can get it – in other seasons, but there’s just something richer about the flavours and the colours of summer fruits and vegetables.

Stone fruit are tart-sweet and not just watery; prawns and peas of any variety taste sweeter, fresher. Sweetcorn is almost thirst-quenching and berries are little explosions of both colour and flavour. Herbs are greener and more pungent.

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And tomatoes. Tomatoes are at their prime; firm but juicy, savoury-sweet and still slightly acidic.

Summer tomatoes need just a touch of heat to have them bursting in the pan, creating a light and tasty sauce to toss some spaghetti through. Add some oil, a complimenting herb, something crunchy, and top with creamy burrata for a pasta dish you can enjoy on any day you can get your hands on some tomatoes. Even on hellfire days.

The Ingredients

• Pasta: I like thin spaghetti or angel hair for this, but really, use your favourite or whatever you have in the pantry. You may need more oil and tomatoes if you’re going to go for a thicker pasta, like fettucine or paradelle.

• Oil: The oil is making up a lot of the sauce here, so use olive oil. Got any flavoured ones on hand you don’t know how to use up? A lemon, garlic or even rosemary-flavoured olive oil would work really well with the tomatoes.

• Tomatoes: I stumbled across the teeniest tiniest tomatoes (tomberries) ever, so of course I had to use those. But any small tomato works, and if you can get a mixture of colours, great! But if you can’t it makes no difference to the flavour.

• Mint: Please please please use fresh mint for this spaghetti. It adds a freshness that stands up to the oil-based sauce. Just roughly chop or chiffonade it and mix it through.

• Pistachios: I had pistachios in the pantry when I accidentally made this the first time, so that’s what I stuck with. Pine nuts are an obvious substitution, as are almonds. Walnuts could work, though they would add an earthiness to the dish. Omit the nuts altogether if that’s not your thing, or replace them with a sprinkling of lemony, buttery, toasted breadcrumbs.

• Lemon Zest: The secret ingredient to many a great pasta dish. The zest provides a brightness with a touch of acidity without overpowering the whole dish. Highly recommended.

• Burrata: The pièce de résistance! When you break open a ball of burrata, a creamy curd flows free and mixes with the tomatoes and oil to make a light but absolutely indulgent and creamy sauce that screams summer. If you can’t find burrata, fresh mozzarella torn into small strips will mimic the flavour, just add a bit more oil, if needed, or even a couple tablespoons cream, if you’ve got some to use up in the fridge.

Looking for other Summer Recipes? Try These:

• Coconut Rice Salad with Green Mango

• Fruit and Vegetable Quinoa Salad

• Zucchini Flower, Mint and Pecorino Pasta

• Prawn-Stuffed Avocados with Finger Limes

• Plum and Salmon Salad