This Easy Pasta Dish Is Packed with Anti-Inflammatory Ingredients

In the middle of summer, I don’t really want to heat up the kitchen to cook dinner. Honestly, my thoughts keep turning to ice cream and though I wish this was the perfect meal choice for me, at my age, it’s not. I look, feel and act healthy—and generally, I am. But I’ve had a few of the larger health scares in life, including breast cancer (twice). So I’d love the ice cream—and all those other easy but not-so-healthy things to eat—but it wouldn’t love me back. Instead, I now prioritize anti-inflammatory ingredients in everything I eat.

But I still need pasta. (It’s more of an emotional thing than anything else, perhaps.) Instead of traditional pasta, I’ve transitioned to using whole-wheat pasta. But finding dishes where I could just swap in the whole-wheat pasta for traditional has been a challenge, as it’s not the same blank canvas for other flavors. After much searching, I finally found a recipe that works for me, offering the full pasta experience while also bringing the good healthy stuff: Burrata Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes & Spinach. 

This pasta dish is comfort food at its finest and lightest. Its mood is festive, and it reminds me of the fast and delicious homestyle dish my Italian mother-in-law would often make for her large family: a pasta tossed with a light tomato sauce and very simply topped with dollops of seductive ricotta. Just like that dish, this recipe is quick and easy to make. It’s also filled with spectacular summer produce, and it has a sense of being totally luxurious (while also being healthy) with its topping of creamy burrata cheese.  

The recipe takes 20 minutes from start to finish. The ingredients themselves are pretty much ready to go as-is: a container of ripe cherry tomatoes, some prewashed baby spinach, a few garlic cloves to chop, fresh basil leaves, good olive oil, whole-wheat pasta from the cupboard and, of course, the magnificent orb of burrata cheese to top it all. It’s light and simple (but still elegant enough to serve as a formal dinner) with absolutely no fuss and muss. Did I tell you it uses only two pans? Easy cleanup bonus points!

Making this dish is an exercise in aromatherapy. First, the forest-green basil leaves waft a shock of aroma out into the kitchen much like an energy field. This sense of sudden awakening shouldn’t be surprising, as the herb is known for its stimulating scent. It’s pure summer, distilled, and as I take a deep breath, the idea of cooking starts to become attractive, no longer a chore.

When the aroma of garlic being heated in olive oil rises, I start to become seriously hungry. And then those adorable tomatoes join the garlic in the pan to release their juices and start the process that leads to “sauce.” It has that certain shimmering golden look that fresh tomato sauces balanced with olive oil have. Then finally the baby spinach is tossed in to bring it all together. There it is, the happy, classic red, white and green that holds so much promise of flavor! The taste and density of the whole-wheat pasta, which can be overwhelming or distracting for people more accustomed to traditional pasta, works surprisingly well with this sauce, giving it a slightly nutty undertone.  

Strangely enough, for me it’s not all about how this tastes and smells, though those are the primary things my lizard brain seeks. The concept of eating more healthy foods rather than less must be a part of my reality—regardless of what my lizard brain tells me. I’m looking for pro-health, anti-inflammatory, low-salt, low- or no-sugar, whole grains and low-in-saturated fat, and the idea of using whole-wheat pasta rather than traditional pasta is a biggie. It means I’ll eat a smaller portion and stay full longer. And then there’s the avoidance of that energy spike and subsequent sudden energy drop that hit me when eating traditional pasta. 

Though this dish fits the bill of essential summer dining, it can be enjoyed in any season. If you happen to be lucky enough to have leftovers, they can be used for a spaghetti frittata the next day. Pack it for lunch with a green salad on the side.