Arielle Johnson is a food scientist whose book, Flavorama, which debuted in March, highlights how to harness flavor science to make delicious food. (Courtesy Nicholas Coleman)
Put those summertime cherry tomatoes to use with this recipe, which works especially well with Sun Gold cherry tomatoes. It’s from the pages of “Flavorama,” a new cookbook by Arielle Johnson, a Ph.D. flavor scientist who’s worked with Noma in Copenhagen.
The recipe yields a tomato sauce with bright, fresh, clean flavor. Serve it with pasta, rice or other cooked grains.
Pasta with Cherry Tomato–Yogurt Whey Sauce
Serves 2 to 3
INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons cultured butter
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 small chopped garlic clove
1 pint stemmed Sun Gold cherry tomatoes
1⁄3 cup yogurt whey (prepared by straining roughly double the amount of whole milk plain yogurt through four layers of cheesecloth or a very clean dish towel; give it 8 to 12 hours to drain.)
10 ounces shaped pasta like orecchiette, conchiglie, or campanelle
DIRECTIONS
Melt cultured butter with sea salt in a medium saucepan or a nonstick skillet and let it lightly brown over medium heat. Turn the heat down to low and add the garlic. Stir and let cook for about 30 seconds; don’t let the garlic brown.
Add the cherry tomatoes and turn the heat back to medium. Cover and let cook for about 2 minutes, until the tomatoes start to burst and soften. Crush them lightly in the pan with a potato masher, making sure you break each tomato open.
Add yogurt whey and continue to cook, uncovered, at a brisk bubble for 8 to 10 more minutes. The tomatoes will break down into a chunky sauce and the mixture will thicken a little bit. Taste and adjust the salt as necessary.
To serve over pasta, cook 10 ounces shaped pasta like orecchiette, conchiglie, or campanelle. Drain when it is about 2 minutes short of how you like it done. Add the drained pasta to the whey sauce and cook them together for 1 to 2 minutes over medium-high heat, tasting for pasta doneness and removing from the heat immediately when you reach the texture you like. The sauce will finish cooking the pasta, while soaking in some of its tangy flavors. Serve immediately.
Reprinted from Flavorama by arrangement with Harvest, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. Copyright © 2024, Arielle Johnson.
Originally published at Kate Bradshaw