1. Start the pasta.

Bring the 3-4 cups of chicken broth to a boil (you need enough broth so that the pasta will be fully covered once added to the saucepan). Add the pasta. Follow the directions on the package regarding how long to cook it.

2. Cut up the tomatoes.

While the pasta cooks, cut up the tomatoes until you have 1 cup of chopped tomatoes. For cherry tomatoes, I usually cut them in half 2x (i.e., I cut them into quarters).

Place them in the bottom of the bowl you’re going to eat from, kept to one side of the bowl.

You’re going to arrange everything in a very specific way now. Why? Because you’re going to pour hot pasta into the bowl over the tomatoes/mozzarella/basil. You want to make sure the pasta and the tomatoes to combine first – the pasta heats the tomatoes, the tomatoes cool down the pasta, and then you can toss everything together. The mozzarella will warm up, but not melt this way. Picture of what this will all look like pre-pasta below. Tomatoes are at the bottom of the pile, mozzarella on top, and basil at the very top.

3. Cut up the fresh mozzarella.

Cut up the fresh mozzarella into pieces about the same size as your tomato quarters (about 1/2 to 1/4 inch cubes). Pile the chopped fresh mozzarella on top of the tomatoes.

4. Cut up the basil.

Wash and chop the basil until you have 1 tbsp. Place it on top of the fresh mozzarella.

5. Add the buttermilk.

Pour 2 tbsp of buttermilk over the tomatoes. It can go anywhere, because it’s going to end up at the bottom of the bowl anyway.

6. Add the pasta.

Once the pasta is done cooking, pour off most (but not all) of the broth. I use a slotted spoon to hold back the pasta, and I pour out most of the broth. I try to leave about 1/4 – 1/2 of a cup.

Then I pour the hot pasta and remaining broth directly over the tomatoes. I keep away from the fresh mozzarella as much as possible. Picture below of what this should look like:

7. Toss everything together and enjoy!