A cold-pressed, imported extra-virgin olive oil can feel like one of life’s little luxuries. The flavor depends on the type of olive selected, where they’re grown, and how they’re processed, and tasting notes can vary from peppery and spicy to earthy and fruity. Ina Garten swears by a high-quality olive oil, and her go-to move for making exceptional summer pasta reflects just that. As she revealed on her Barefoot Contessa website, Garten marinates cut summer vegetables, aromatics, herbs, and seasonings in a bath of olive oil for a few hours before adding to pasta to infuse even more flavor into the dish.
Fat carries flavor, so it’s no surprise that giving vegetables a luxurious bath in a good-quality olive oil would impart a deeper, more exceptional flavor to ripe summer vegetables. You could toss raw, cut vegetables in salt and other seasonings before coating generously in olive oil, so the seasonings have a way to permeate the flesh before the oil coats the vegetables. You could also marinate cooked vegetables, like grilled summer squash or bell peppers, in a mixture of good olive oil and fresh herbs for a few hours before adding to a summer pasta. If marinating cooked vegetables, try to work quickly so the vegetables are still warm when being tossed in an olive oil marinade; this will allow them to better absorb the piquant olive oil flavors.
The quality of your olive oil can make or break a dish
This spaghetti and zucchini garden pasta recipe already employs Garten’s tip by marinating seasoned tomatoes in olive oil, but you could take it a step further by using more than just the tablespoon the recipe calls for to really amp up the olive oil flavoring in the dish. Similarly, the cherry tomatoes in this summer BLT pasta would benefit greatly from marinating in a punchy, flavorful olive oil prior to assembling.
If you have any infused olive oils, or even make your own, those flavored olive oils are always a great option to marinate vegetables in, especially when infused with garlic, spicy Calabrian chili flakes, or herbs like basil or rosemary. If you’re feeling fancy, don’t forget a generous drizzle of finishing olive oil over the finished pasta dish to give the entire bowl an extra level of fresh, punchy, extra-virgin olive oil-packed flavor. All of this marinating and finishing in quality olive oil eliminates the need for an additional sauce.
A good quality, extra-virgin olive oil can run you upwards of $40 for some brands, so it can be overwhelming to know which bottles are worth the high price tag and which to skip. We have some tips for shopping for the best bottle of olive oil to help you make the most informed decisions at the grocery or specialty store. And for even more Ina-inspired brilliance, check out her 10 best tips for cooking pasta.
