Pasta Pomodro

A quick and really tasty pasta dish that when executed properly, mixes water, starch, and fat into a perfectly velvety sauce.

Ingredients Directions

  • 1 serving of short pasta; rigatoni, penne, casarecce, etc.
  • Salt
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 clove of garlic, sliced thin
  • Black pepper, to taste
  • 1 pinch of red pepper flakes
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • Crushed or pureed tomatoes
  • Parmesan, finely grated
  • 3-4 Fresh basil leaves, chiffonade

  1. Start cooking the pasta in a smallish amount of water, with a bit of salt. Some of the pasta water will be used so do not over salt it.
  2. In another pan saute the garlic, black pepper, and red peppers, cook until the garlic softens and become aromatic.
  3. Add butter and pureed tomatoes, cook a couple of minutes until ingredients combine and reduces slightly.
  4. Add the pasta a minute before it's al dente, save some of the pasta cooking water. Continue cooking while stirring until the sauce emulsifies, add splashes of pasta water to add additional starch if needed.
  5. Off heat add stir in Parmesan cheese and basil.
  6. Plate up and garnish with the rest of the Parmesan and basil.

Notes

The goal of this dish is to have the tomato sauce lightly sauce the pasta. The pasta is cooked with a relatively small amount of water to result in cooking water with a lot of starch. I will even vigorously stir the pasta during cooking to knock a bit more off. The final sauce should be emulsified, neither too watery or overly thick and gummy.

Original Recipe

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