Skip to main content

Bucatini with Olives, Sun-Dried Tomatoes, and Basil

2.5

(1)

Image may contain Food Plant Meal and Dish
Bucatini with Olives, Sun-Dried Tomatoes, and BasilCookbook cover image courtesy of Random House

Bucatini is a long, hollow pasta, like very thick spaghetti with a hole running through it. Because it is so hearty, its sauce needs rich ingredients to stand up to it. The basil, sun-dried tomatoes, and black olive tapenade form a flavor-packed, thick sauce that begs to coat the thick, toothsome strands of bucatini. With only five ingredients in this entire recipe, you won't be surprised at how effortless and speedy it is. Cooking the pasta is the only thing that takes any time.

Ingredients

Kosher salt
12 ounces bucatini
3/4 cup black olive tapenade
3 cups basil leaves (from about 1 large bunch)
1/2 cup roughly chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
24 oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained and torn into bite-size pieces (heaping 1/2 cup)
High-quality extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Parmigiano-Reggiano wedge, for shaving

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat and add a generous amount of kosher salt. Stir in the bucatini, return the water to a boil, and cook the pasta, stirring occasionally to prevent the strands from sticking together, until it's al dente. (Since cooking times vary, for perfectly cooked pasta, refer to the package instructions for the recommended time and taste the pasta frequently while it cooks.)

    Step 2

    Put the tapenade in a large skillet.

    Step 3

    Drain the pasta and quickly add it, still dripping with water, to the skillet with the tapenade. Place the skillet over medium heat and cook the pasta, gently stirring to coat the pasta with the tapenade, until it's warmed through, about 1 minute.

    Step 4

    Turn off the heat, add the basil, parsley, and sun-dried tomatoes and toss to combine.

    Step 5

    Use tongs to lift the pasta out of the skillet and pile it onto four plates, dividing it evenly and twisting it into high mounds.

    Step 6

    Finish each serving with a drizzle of olive oil, a pinch of sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, and Parmesan cheese shavings.

Nutrition Per Serving

null
#### Nutritional analysis provided by [TasteBook
using the USDA Nutrition Database]( )
From A Twist of the Wrist by Nancy Silverton Copyright (c) 2007 by Nancy Silverton Published by Knopf. Nancy Silverton and her husband, Mark Peel, own and operate Campanile Restaurant and the La Brea Bakery in Los Angeles. She is the author of Nancy Silverton’s Pastries from the La Brea Bakery (nominated for Julia Child and James Beard Awards) and Desserts. She lives in Los Angeles. Carolynn Carreño is a James Beard Award–winning journalist and the coauthor of 100 Ways to Be Pasta, Once Upon a Tart, and A Twist of the Wrist. She lives in Los Angeles and New York.
Read More
This marinara sauce is great tossed with any pasta for a quick and easy weeknight dinner that will leave you thinking, “Why didn’t anyone try this sooner?”
In this lasagna, soft layers of pasta and béchamel are interspersed with a rich tomato sauce laden with hearty Mediterranean vegetables.
An ex-boyfriend’s mom—who emigrated from Colombia—made the best meat sauce—she would fry sofrito for the base and simply add cooked ground beef, sazón, and jarred tomato sauce. My version is a bit more bougie—it calls for caramelized tomato paste and white wine—but the result is just as good.
Spaghetti is a common variation in modern Thai cooking. It’s so easy to work with and absorbs the garlicky, spicy notes of pad kee mao well.
This is what I call a fridge-eater recipe. The key here is getting a nice sear on the sausage and cooking the tomato down until it coats the sausage and vegetables well.
This vegan version of the classic North African scramble uses soft silken tofu instead of eggs without any sacrifice of flavor.
This sauce is slightly magical. The texture cloaks pasta much like a traditional meat sauce does, and the flavors are deep and rich, but it’s actually vegan!
Cabbage is the unsung hero of the winter kitchen—available anywhere, long-lasting in the fridge, and super-affordable. It’s also an excellent partner for pasta.