Japanese Chef Serves Cold Capellini with Rich Tomato Sauce in Hot Weather

By Yukako Oishi / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

12:15 JST, September 7, 2025

The hotter the weather, the tastier the cold dishes. Yoshinaga Jinbo, owner-chef of an Italian restaurant, tells us how to cook cold capellini with tomato, which is ideal when the hot weather drags on.

Large, cherry and whole canned tomatoes make up the sauce, which is poured over extremely thin pasta.

Jinbo often serves cold pasta dishes at his restaurant during summer. Though various types of sauces can be made, such as tartar with deepwater shrimp, this time he recommends tomato, which is a vegetable representative of summer.

“By blending the unique characteristics of three kinds of tomatoes, you can turn them into an authentic sauce,” Jinbo said.

First up are the large tomatoes. “Heat them to condense their sweet taste. Simmer them for a sufficiently long time, as though making jam,” he said.

Placing a pan containing the tomatoes over the heat, immediately mash them with a wooden spatula, and juice will accumulate. Then, simmer the flesh in the juice.

It is better to stir often because the tomatoes tend to char easily when touching the base and sides of the pan. Once the juice begins to evaporate, turn the heat down and continue simmering.

The whole canned tomatoes have a much fuller taste. By mixing them into the simmered large tomatoes, the entire flavor becomes deeper.

The cherry tomatoes are used to add fresh sweetness and a different texture. Crush them by hand and pour the juice squeezed from them into the tomato mixture to make the sauce juicier.

Finally, capellini, a kind of pasta so thin that it is also known as angel-hair pasta, is boiled and quickly chilled by placing in ice water. Excess moisture is then removed.

Inside a cooled bowl, the pasta is quickly mixed with the prepared sauce.

Eating a mouthful of the bright red pasta, the coldness is very appealing. The fresh and sweet taste of the tomatoes nicely spreads through the mouth. The spicy taste of hot sauce and the aroma of basil create clear contrasts.

Most important is how cold the dish is. “In my restaurant, not only the plates but also the silverware is made cold before they are served to customers,” Jinbo said.

Don’t forget to prepare a lot of ice to make the sauce and pasta cold.

Cold capellini with tomato

Ingredients (serves 2):

• 120 grams capellini
• 2 large tomatoes
• 100 grams canned whole tomatoes
• 6 cherry tomatoes
• 2 basil leaves
• Hot sauce to taste
• 2 tbsp Parmesan cheese



Directions:

1. Boil the large tomatoes, remove skins and cut flesh into small pieces. Put them into a pan, turn on the heat and simmer while mashing with a wooden spatula. Simmer over low-to-medium heat for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the liquid is almost gone and it becomes like a paste. Add the canned tomatoes, smashing them into the mixture, and simmer for a while.

2. Put ingredients from Step 1 into a bowl and mix while the bowl is sitting in ice water to cool them quickly.

3. Cut the cherry tomatoes into quarters, lightly crush by hand and add the flesh and juice to the bowl. Add torn basil leaves. Adjust the taste with a ½ tablespoon of olive oil, a small amount of salt and pepper and the hot sauce. Place the bowl in the refrigerator.

4. Dissolve salt in plenty of hot water; the salt concentration needs to be about 2%. Boil capellini according to instructions on the packet. Cool the pasta in ice water. Put the boiled pasta into a colander and remove excess water by pressing it against the bottom of the colander with your hand. Wrap the pasta in paper towels to remove remaining moisture.

5. Take the bowl from Step 3 out of the refrigerator, add the pasta and mix. Place on a plate, sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top and drizzle 1 tablespoon of olive oil over it all.

• 

  The Yomiuri Shimbun
  Simmer chopped tomatoes while mashing with a spatula.

• 

  The Yomiuri Shimbun
  Put the tomatoes in a bowl cooled with ice water to chill.

• 

  The Yomiuri Shimbun
  Remove excess water by pressing the pasta against the bottom of a colander with your hand.

• 

• 

•