How to Make Pasta with Cherry Tomato Sauce and Fried Caper Crumbs

Julia makes host Bridget Lancaster the perfect Pasta with Burst Cherry Tomato Sauce and Fried Caper Crumbs.
Get our recipe for Pasta with Cherry Tomato Sauce: cooks.io/3PCY1Pu
Buy our winning stockpot: cooks.io/3ouV6wR
Buy our winning non-stick skillet: cooks.io/3y96lk7
Buy our winning chefs knife: cooks.io/3tQ9mDh
ABOUT US: Located in Boston’s Seaport District in the historic Innovation and Design Building, America's Test Kitchen features 15,000 square feet of kitchen space including multiple photography and video studios. It is the home of Cook’s Illustrated magazine and Cook’s Country magazine and is the workday destination for more than 60 test cooks, editors, and cookware specialists. Our mission is to test recipes over and over again until we understand how and why they work and until we arrive at the best version.
If you like us, follow us:
americastestkitchen.com
/ americastestkitchen
/ testkitchen
/ testkitchen
/ testkitchen

[@sandraperry8769]

Oh my goodness my two favorite ladies! Love watching Julia & Bridget together. Pasta dish looks delicious!

[@nautilusshell4969]

Reminds me of that scene in 'The First Wives' Club'. Sarah Jessica Parker: "This....this is restaurant quality!" Maggie Smith: "Fork. Fork!"

[@NhuLe-cm3nw]

These caper crumbs are DELICIOUS. i didnt have anchovies on hand but just substituted some fish sauce. But no smell at all, just great umami and brine from the capers.

[@giuliananowak3187]

It’s delicious, easy to prepare, I make it ones a week, thank you …

[@justanonymous5681]

My kind of recipe- delicious, easy to make, and inexpensive!!! A win win all the way around! 😋

[@jullesadams1398]

How delightful it is to see you together again

[@macsam8778]

Dinner recipe for tonight! Thank you!

[@jeaniez5098]

Looks wonderful especially the topping!

[@1111MeditationPortal]

I love pasta with cherry tomato, beautiful and delicious!

[@diosadiaz3029]

I’m definitely going to make that pasta dish thank you for sharing ladies

[@llm4132]

I made this for dinner today. So delicious with simple ingredients. I agree, everyone that makes this should make the topping to see if they like it. No anchovy taste at all in the sauce or the topping once it’s all put together.

[@B.S...]

"I thought you were gonna throw it at me." You two crack me up.

[@HeartBreakHigh]

💜💜💜 Love it! 🙌🏾 😁. You guys are great cooking presenters together too 👍🏾. Fabulous teamwork!

[@travissimpson7061]

I now have another reason and way to eat and love cherry tomatoes. Thank you my loves❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@seanswinton6242]

Agree!👍

[@hamvjones]

Summer in a bowl… so good

[@glendaharding4884]

This looks oh so good!!

[@Andy-vt7sl]

Made the topping tonight for a different penne pasta dish (no basil here…whomp whomp). Can’t wait to have the family try it!

[@johnlord8337]

And !!! .... Its the Lone Range-r Bridgetta !!!! and her faithful sidekick Julio-ia ....

[@indranihassan4513]

I came back from Italy, travelled 8 cities and tested pasta every city , walah ❤ I will cook your recipe too, I feel like to eat

[@margie1447]

Trying this tonight 😋😋😋😋

[@maryrivera8674]

Can’t wait to make this 😊

[@jjruder]

Oh your wonderful women cooking up a delectable pasta feast!

[@billy4072]

👍👌nice one, I'll try that , but I'll caramelise/ burn those toms first lol. Good info about the garlic 👌. 🥰😂

[@jamesbarbato2192]

So much better to cut the tomatoes in half makes it more saucy.. also add some white wine 🤤

[@margaretsawyer4225]

Yummy ,

[@rebeccaschadt7136]

Wow!!!!

[@trichogaster1183]

cherry tomatoes sure are amazing

[@emc1694]

Looks delish! Could you recommend the best vegan substitute for the anchovies in this recipe? Thanks!

[@angelbulldog4934]

It has butter in it, too. What would you substitute for that?

[@rochellesiegel5199]

Mushroom in paste or powder form

[@rochellesiegel5199]

A good xtra virgin olive oil

[@spencerbowman8052]

miso paste would do a good job replacing the complex umami flavor that the anchovies provide, a lil msg wouldn’t hurt too

[@emc1694]

I shall try miso paste for the first round, then the mushrooms for the next. Thanks for the great suggestions!

[@borntoexplore982]

That looks amazing. Makes me really regret my dinner :(

[@zepanther1]

A keeper

[@rachellemazar7374]

This looks fantastic, I will try to make it vegan by subbing kelp for the anchovies and using vegan butter

[@sandrah7512]

I posted in a couple of other comments - ATK's substitute for anchovies is a mix of miso and nori powder.

[@QuietStormX]

Yum!!!!! ;-D

[@oftedahlh]

I can do that

[@jullesadams1398]

More, more, more

[@rachellemazar7374]

I knew cherry tomatoes had more flavor but not about the glutamates and pectin, thanks so much

[@tammystewart7059]

Vegetarian anchovy sub?

[@mesheke1922]

I'm not vegetarian, but I believe people use liquid aminos as a umami booster in sauces

[@Leguminator]

I buy dried shitake mushrooms from the market, usually in the Asian section, and grind them in my blender and keep the powder in an old repurposed spice jar --- I use them for a plant based umami boosts. Just a thought.

[@sandrah7512]

Answered in a comment question recent to yours. 🙂 Copy/pasting the answer sometimes equals spam to YT and gets those comment answers deleted. 😕

[@josephgaviota]

I might cut the tomatoes in half first, but either way, this looked like a delicious simple meal!

[@dolce13651]

I wanted to make that suggestion to the 2 ladies cooking this as this is how it should be done cutting in hlaf releases a different and much more intense flavour. Thats how it should be done..... where i was born and raised anyway.

[@sandrah7512]

Cook's Illustrated Associate Editor Steve Dunn, who developed this recipe was looking to create a sauce that required no tomato prep, cooking them in such a way that some tomatoes burst but some remained intact so they gave a juicy burst when you eat them. This is also why he chose a saucepan over a skillet - it was all by design to get the sauce he was after.

[@josephgaviota]

@@sandrah7512 I of course meant no disrespect in my comment. I enjoy watching these various recipe videos, and adapting them a bit for my self.

[@sandrah7512]

@@josephgaviota Oh no worries, just thought people might be interested in the reasoning behind the recipe development and how it should be done to achieve it.🙂

[@dstarlette25]

@@sandrah7512 lol why are you replying to every single comment saying this?! 😆😆

[@christopheradams5008]

Anyone else oddly distracted by that triangular slice of garlic? Lol. Still looks amazing!

[@trabajaba]

💯🔥

[@joereedmusic9853]

Please send me a bowl now..........

[@luzdeld]

Hello. 2 very nice ladies.

[@kauaijohn]

My roommate got up during an intense movie we were watching on video to make a sandwich. He kept poking his head around the corner from the kitchen to watch the movie while making his sandwich. When he sat back down on the sofa, he was still intently focused on the movie and took a huge bite of his sandwich. After a few chews, he got a look of horror on his face and spat out the sandwich onto his plate and started wiping his tongue with a napkin. It seems that he originally started making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich but got distracted by the movie and somehow thought he was making a tuna fish sandwich! He spread grape jelly on one slice of bread and then put tuna salad on the other slice and closed up the sandwich without ever looking away from the TV. That was thirty-five years ago, but whenever I make a PB&J, I still chuckle about Steve’s “jellyfish sandwich”!

[@DeborahCaldwell77]

Fried capers with an anchovy… !! oh

[@stardroplet9499]

Are cherry and grape tomatoes the same? I feel cherry tomatoes are double the size than grapes.

[@Pastadudde]

cherry tomatoes are usually sweeter, grape tomatoes are a little more tart.

[@sandrah7512]

They are not the same and Cook's Illustrated Associate Editor Steve Dunn, who developed this recipe said he doesn't really recommend using grape tomatoes in this recipe as they don't break down in the same fashion so their sauce is a bit drier that the cherry tomato's. Although there were some online comments with the recipe where people who used grape tomatoes said they made up for the perceived dryness by piercing some of the grape tomatoes, adding more pasta water and/or butter.

[@stardroplet9499]

@@Pastadudde thank you

[@stardroplet9499]

@@sandrah7512 good to know! Thank you!

[@drgeniusphd]

literally

[@mariet9063]

What is "Panco"???!!!

[@VLind-uk6mb]

I wanted to review the print recipe but the bloody site goes dark and will not let you scroll. Sod it -- I knew how to do this anyway.

[@camprinlitius1832]

Idk the panko seems kinda redundant

[@morrismonet3554]

You can always tell who the crappy cooks are in the comments. "Too much salt", Too much oil", "Is there a vegan version?"🤣

[@dolce13651]

Thinking the same🤣

[@sandrah7512]

I always wonder about the ones who need a substitute for wine or bread crumbs or whatever without saying WHY they want/need one. Allergic? Don't use? All out/Don't want to buy? And then proceed to reject responses because they didn't provide enough information. My other (least) favourite is "Help, I don't own a microwave". 🤔 Well, *you're* the one without the microwave - how do you typically work around that? 🤷🏼‍♀

[@morrismonet3554]

@@sandrah7512 Wine is tough to sub. Some can't use for religious reasons, but I'll answer "Sherry" just to be a jerk. LOL

[@sandrah7512]

@@morrismonet3554 I guess I'm a little nicer - at least for the wine subs as they are typically looking for a non-alcohol substitution. But depending on the application, I will also say sherry or vermouth along with the non-booze choices like chicken broth with a shot of vinegar or lemon juice to finish or any other suggestions the recipe developer/test cooks may have offered either in the recipe itself (which obviously a certain portion of the viewers don't read first) or in the comments on the recipe page online which I think you need a membership to see.

[@marian1576]

Just because I don’t want to eat animals doesn’t make me a crappy cook. What an unpleasant and unnecessary comment.

[@JogBird]

theyre using way too much salt

[@sbrian123]

I disagree.

[@johnhpalmer6098]

Unless they are using kosher (and they may be), it's not the same as table salt due to the crystal size. So for a tablespoon of table salt, kosher needs a 1/4 tsp more to get the same seasoning effect, however, if kosher is sprinkled over say French fries, then you will need less due to the larger crystal size as you will taste more of the salt per crystal on your tongue than table salt. Also, that is for the entire amount of the sauce and the butter is unsalted, so they are compensating for that as well, so while it may SEEM to be too much, it may be just enough as some foods need more salt than others or they'll taste bland, like potatoes for instance.

[@Leguminator]

For 4 servings this comes out to about 520 mg each (factoring in pasta water, salt added to the tomatoes & topping, potential residual salt in capers & anchovies), so if you're on DASH or a very low sodium diet this could represent half your sodium for the day --- plus the palate of someone on a low sodium diet can be sensitive to salt, so I can see where it may be a bit much for some people. Otherwise for a 2,300 mg recommended max per day in a general diet it's around 22-23% of your RDI of sodium. This is considering they're using DC Kosher Salt, which I'm pretty sure is ATK's preferred brand. Ultimately it all depends on the individual and their overall diet and dietary & health needs.

[@angelbulldog4934]

Remember, they're not salting one serving. The pasta water should be roughly as salty as ocean water. If you don't eat salt, leave it out. It won't taste the same, but it is an option.

[@johnhpalmer6098]

@@angelbulldog4934 Actually, salting the water so it's salty as the sea is a myth as even ATK does not salt quite that much, Kenji Lopez-Alt does not either, and I don't. I put in roughly 3 tsp into my pasta water, but I'm usually cooking for 1, plus often with leftovers in mind for the next night, so a cup of pasta, more or less, and I don't use much more than a Qt and a half of water for that much as the pasta water will be starchier at the end to add a few tablespoons of said water to the dish at the end helps with the emulsification.

[@gailmaria2502]

WOW 8 tablespoon of fat.

[@morrismonet3554]

Fat = flavor. Get some exercise and it won't be a problem.

[@sandrah7512]

The recipe serves four to six, not one...

[@rogersmith1746]

Put Fauxi in the commercial talking about the vaxxes.

[@timrowe234]

You lost me at anchovies! 🤢

[@deniseg812]

Too much salt, caper anchovies and then you put in salt? I'll skip that part.

[@foxman1165]

PLEASE review the makeup job done on these 2 ladies. Especially the eyes and eyebrows. Unnatural is the only word that applies.

[@TT-yn7qi]

They have way too much make up on. It's unnecessary.

[@borntoexplore982]

If you have nothing nice to say, don’t say it.

[@charlieharris3240]

🤔 Not petty enough. Try harder. 🙄🤦‍♂

[@alansnipes3101]

WRONG! Stop making pasta recipes with only 12 oz of pasta. Most people only have a pound available and what do you do with the extra 4 oz? Some recipes with vegetables use a half a pound which makes sense. Recipes that are developed with 12 oz are not helpful to the home cook.

[@marthaczyz1078]

I usually just use the whole pound

[@sandrah7512]

Here's a crazy thought - save the extra pasta for next time? It's a shelf-stable pantry product that does not go bad. The recipe was engineered for two pounds of cherry tomatoes, "enough for 12 oz. of pasta" to quote Cook's Illustrated Associate Editor Steve Dunn who developed this recipe. Alternatively, to keep the same pasta/tomato ratio, Steve says two pounds of tomatoes is roughly three pints. That's some easy math for you. 🤷🏼‍♀