Sunday, July 12, 2009

Pasta Sauce

For my first recipe, I'm sharing my favorite pasta sauce. Making your own pasta sauce takes a good bit of time, but I find it really satisfying. It's one of the reasons I love cooking in general; the combination of pride in a thing done right with the connection to the common human experience. I usually serve this with penne rigate, I prefer De Cecco. It's a medium priced bronze extruded pasta that has a really nice mouthfeel. Follow the cooking time on the box, al dente pasta every time. When I cook pasta, I usually salt the water and add a couple of drops of olive oil. The oil does nothing to flavor the pasta, but it does lower surface tension on the water and limit foaming, which makes the pasta pot quicker to clean up afterward.

Pasta Sauce:
Serves 6 (yay leftovers!)

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (I use Lucini)
1 large yellow onion, medium chop
1 generous pinch of salt
2 bay leaves
fresh ground black pepper
2 tbs sun-dried tomato paste
1/2 tbs red pepper flakes (I've been known to use more if the kids aren't eating)
3 or 4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 tsp oregano
1 green bell pepper, stem and seeds discarded, chopped
1 package white mushrooms, sliced
1 roasted red bell pepper, chopped (I use Cento's roasted red peppers marinaded with garlic)
4 or 5 large cloves garlic
1 cup approx dry red wine (House red around here is generally Rosemount Shiraz)
2 28oz cans crushed tomatoes (Cento also cans my favorite tomato. Whatever you get, make sure the tomatoes do not have added citric acid. It effs with the flavor, ya dig?)

Optional:
Fresh Basil Chiffonade
1 lb mild Italian sausage (Jimmy Dean's is fine)

Heat olive oil in a dutch oven over medium high heat. When the surface of the oil begins to shimmer, add onions & salt. Add bay leaves, pepper, tomato paste, red pepper flakes, thyme, and oregano. Saute the onions until transparent. Add green pepper, saute for 2-3 minutes, to soften it up. Add mushrooms, red bell pepper and garlic, saute until the mushrooms loose their liquid. Add wine and reduce by half. Reduce heat to medium low and add both cans of tomatoes, reserving a quarter of one can. Cover with a splatter screen and simmer for one hour. If you don't have a splatter screen, get one. You'll save yourself a lot of time cleaning up, and they're cheap.

When I make this sauce, I'll usually set my timer for half an hour so I can start the pasta water halfway through the cooking time. My pasta pot takes FOREVER to boil- yours might not need this much time- try to have your pasta finish around the same time or after your sauce finishes. The sauce can sit, the pasta should not.

In the meantime, you can completely brown your Italian sausage if you're using it, and/or prep your basil chiffonade. The basil may darken on you if you do it too soon, so wait as long as you can without making yourself rush at the last second. If you've never done a chiffonade before, this video does a good job explaining it.

After the sauce and pasta are done, take the two bay leaves out of the sauce (remember this step, those leaves aren't good eats) and stir in the reserved quarter can of tomatoes. Put the pasta, sausage, and basil into the pot containing the sauce and fold to combine, being careful not to destroy the pasta. Sometimes, for a creamy version of this sauce, I add half of a small tub of marscarpone cheese right before I add the pasta. Stir to combine. Put it in a bowl, grind on a little parmaggiano-reggiano, et voila. Instant happy.

(I'll post a picture next time I make it!)

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