Hear Us Out: Angel Hair Pasta

My excellent editor, Mia Leimkuhler, recently asked me to reconsider angel hair pasta and — while I was revisiting the 1990s — watch the movie “Twister,” which came out in 1996 and has a new sequel, “Twisters.” Mia, I’ve completed this assignment. Here goes.

Angel hair, a.k.a. capellini, was embraced in the ’90s for being lighter than other pastas, a finely twirled pairing for the simplest of sauces, vegetables and seafood. I loved angel hair pasta when it was in vogue, and then I turned on it when it fell out of style. (Pasta lovers: We’re capricious!)

But just look at Dan Pelosi’s recipe for angel hair pasta below: The strands are tossed with olive oil, butter, garlic, herbs and those blistered cherry tomatoes, like elegant flavor balloons. It’s the perfect pan of pasta for a high-summer dinner.

There are a few things to know about angel hair. For starters, “al dente” is not its vibe. This pasta cooks rapidly and thoroughly. Start checking for doneness early, as overcooked angel hair is a soppy Koosh ball on your plate. Angel hair doesn’t really do heavy sauces or substantial mix-ins, so save your eggplant cubes or sausage hunks to toss with a less sensitive pasta shape. (As for “Twister,” which I’d never seen — Helen Hunt is a treasure.)

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One more thing: We’ve got news from the broader world of food at The New York Times. Pete Wells, our longtime restaurant critic, has decided to step aside from the role, and he explains his thinking and the requirements of the job in a brilliant column. I see more home cooking in Pete’s future … maybe we can even persuade him to write about it.