Pasta alla Checca originally is a straight forward Italian pasta dish with a “raw” sauce consisting of fresh, uncooked tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. A Caprese Salad of sorts but then with pasta.
It’s really as simple as that and therefore ideal for parties and summer dinners. My version is a bit more elaborate as I made the sauce by tossing cherry tomatoes, capers, green olives, basil, parsley, mozzarella balls, chilli, garlic and olive oil together.
Due to the bright and bold flavours, the sauce would also work very well with spiralized raw courgette, bringing an extra crunch to the dish. If you want a slightly creamier texture, just add a couple of tablespoons of fresh ricotta before serving.
Instead of using cooled down pasta to make a salad, this time I used the sauce to coat still warm fresh spaghetti and added a couple of tablespoons of reserved cooking water to made a lukewarm pasta dish.
Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and cook the fresh pasta for 2-3 minutes until al dente (or 1 minute less than the pack instructions if using dried pasta).
In the meantime, mix the tomatoes, garlic, capers, olives, chilli, mozzarella and oil together in a bowl.
Season well, mix in the herbs and serve.