peaches n' cream pasta salad

i'm re-thinking that name now

My friends, my lovers, my baby tamagos,

I am so sorry for disappearing from here for the last 2 weeks, I have been a whirlwind of a mess between moving out of, deadlines, signing with a management (!!), planning my birthday, trying to stay active on social and like drink water. But I am back and I hope you forgive me <333 I’m sending this today in lieu of Sunday so you can all make this for Father’s Day if you wish! Next week we’ll be back on schedule as usual.

July 1, we move into our new place in Hoboken and we’re finally going to be in 1 place for longer than a month - a whole 12 months!! I am so excited to show you our place, we have a gorgina balcony that we’ll be grilling + hosting on all summer long so I’ll be sure to save you a seat ;)

Okay shutting up now, let’s make this peaches n’ cream pasta salad. That name sounded better when I thought of it but I’m sticking with it and it doesn’t even matter what you call this - it’s just so so good!!!

This pasta salad combination was inspired by one of my fave lil summer Italian appetizer - tomatoes, burrata and prosciutto. When the produce is in it’s peak season they really don’t need much at all so this is a very minimal ingredient recipe buuut with a bit more preparation of each item to make up for it. So worth it + and so hard to stop eating!

peaches n’ cream pasta salad

• 1 lb pasta - I got this mafalda corta pasta at TJ’s and it was perfection for this

• 2-3 ripe peaches (2 is large, 3 if small)

• 1/2 lb prosciutto

• 3 fat handfuls of arugula

• 1 batch of tomato confit (recipe below)

• 2 handfuls of basil, chopped

• 1/4 cup parm, shredded

• 2 balls of burrata

1. in a bowl, lightly press the tomatoes until they burst slightly. don’t make a big mush - I just like to do so because I don’t like tomato boba.

2. rinse your pasta after boiling and leave it ever so slightly warm. toss the tomato confit to “reactivate” it. set aside as you make your prosciutto + other components!

3. preheat oven to 450 F and lay prosciutto on a parchment lined baking sheet. bake for about 8-11 min until it’s curled up and deeply golden brown. let cool until you can crumble them up into little shards.

4. slice your peaches into 1/2 inch slices. set 1/2 of the slices aside, and cut each slice into thirds, for smaller bite sized pieces. for the other 1/2 of the peach slices, either on a grill, or very hot pan - lightly kiss each side until just browned. leave these slices whole and top the salad with them.

5. mix the remaining ingredients together with the pasta, adjust for salt + pepper + more calabrian chili spice + top with burrata. voillaaaaaa!

** I got a lot of questions what can be subbed for the prosicutto - fried capers would be amazing in this!!! In a small saucepan, drizzle enough avocado oi1 to covert the surface of the pan. add 1/2 cup dry capers, sizzle on medium heat until they start to “bloom” their little leave, about 4ish min. drain on a paper towel and set aside. top the salad and eat immediately :)

dressing:

• 1-2 tbsp calabrian chili paste (I got it from TJ’s, sooo good love the flavor)

• 1/2 cup of the tomato confit oil

• salt + plenty of pepper

1. strain about 1/3 cup of the oil from the tomato confit and combine in a bowl with the calabrian chili + salt + pepper. be gentle on the salt as the prosciutto and parm are both salty.

tomato boba doooop

tomato confit:

• 16 oz of cherry/grape tomatoes

• 1 head of garlic, cut widthwise

• 6 basil leaves

• 2 shallots, thinly sliced

• 2 tbsp calabrian chili paste

• two splashes of balsamic vinegar

• enough olive oil to cover the tomatoes 3/4 of the way

1. preheat oven to 250 F + place everything in a shallow baking dish. try to have all your tomatoes laid out flat in one layer. fully submerge basil to prevent it from burning.

2. cover tomatoes 3/4 of the way with olive oil - it may seem like alot but this is the oil we’re going to use for the pasta salad and it’s gonna be hellla flavorful for other cooking purposes too!!!

3. bake uncovered for about 2 hours until they’re soft + wrinkly. discard basil + squeeze garlic heads to release all the garlic into the confit. let everything fully cool in the pan, then transfer to an airtight jar if not using right away.

your pasta salad slays of the week:

Please dm me photos of your pasta salads so I don’t have to screenshot them off my stories and have them look like they were taken on a toaster strudel <333

Okay talk soon, kiss kiss love u <33

Katie