Four hours on the counter, then pasta

This walks the line between a juicy tomato salad and a proper pasta salad, and it is entirely a matter of patience. The tomatoes do all the work while you do nothing, which is my favourite arrangement.

1. Grate one of the tomatoes on the coarse side of a box grater until only the skin is left in your hand, and let the pulp fall into a large bowl. Chop the rest coarsely and add them. This is my small addition to Melissa Clark and it buys you a dressing with body from minute one rather than hour three.
2. Add the capers, garlic, ½ teaspoon salt, the black pepper, red pepper flakes, the whole basil sprig and the anchovies if you are using them. Toss and leave 5 minutes, then stir in the ½ cup of olive oil. Taste. These tomatoes want aggressive seasoning, more than feels reasonable, because an entire pound of unseasoned pasta is about to join them and dilute everything.
3. Now the bowl sits out on your kitchen counter for 4 hours. Not the fridge. Not one hour because you are in a rush. The counter is where the magic happens, the tomatoes slump and weep and turn into a soupy, garlicky dressing, and there is no shortcut that gets you there.
4. Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to the boil. Cook the pasta until just al dente, usually a minute less than the box claims. Drain well and tip it into the tomatoes while it is still hot, then toss. Hot pasta is thirsty pasta and it drinks the dressing while it cools, which is the entire trick.
5. Let it sit at room temperature at least another hour and up to six. To make it a day ahead, chill it, then bring it fully back to room temperature before serving. Cold blunts everything you just spent an afternoon building.
6. Just before it goes out, fold through the torn basil and the mozzarella if you are using it. Finish with more olive oil and cracked pepper.

Serve it in a glass bowl if you own one. There is no culinary argument for this whatsoever, it simply looks magnificent.

This is already party food, so doubling it is only a question of bowls. Use your largest for the marinating and give the tomatoes the same 4 hours, no less. Cook 2 pounds of pasta in two pots rather than one crowded one, so the water never stops boiling and the pasta stays al dente enough to survive the soak. Dress it in the morning, leave it out at room temperature, and stop thinking about it until people arrive. It is better at hour five than hour one.