Perfect Spicy Tomato Sauce & POMI Giveaway {Naptime Everyday}
What’s Going on Today: Leafing through the Bon Appetit from last month, loving it, running around signing my daughter up for summer camps!
Naptime Goals: Make spicy tomato sauce, sift through camp paperwork.
Tonight’s Menu: Spaghetti with Spicy Sauce, Green Salad, Wine.
Sometimes the signs are loud and clear when it comes to determining dinner. Earlier this month a box of delicious POMI tomatoes arrived on my doorstep. The next day my new Bon Appetit arrived with a picture of spaghetti and a recipe for the simplest silkiest sauce you could ever make on the front cover. Does it get any more straightforward than that? I don’t think so!
I was so excited to get the tomatoes in the mail. I have always LOVED POMI tomatoes and was so excited to learn that not only are they much healthier than canned tomatoes (much lower sodium!), they are also guaranteed to be BPA free because they come in boxes, not cans. I’ve also always suspected that they have less added water because they are so thick and I was told recently that this is indeed the case. They are, simply put, tomatoes and only tomatoes, with none of the funny stuff!
While my daughter was at school I decided to give the Bon Appetit recipe a try. I was in the mood for some heat so I decided to tweak the flavor with a bit of extra red pepper. Pulling it together was a snap. In fact, I anticipated the ease with which it would come together so I doubled the recipe and froze half for a later date. For dinner I reheated it and proceeded to assemble the dish according to the instructions. I was pleased to discover that cooking the pasta in the sauce, instead of vice versa, did indeed produce desired results. The noodles cooked completely and were infused with an intense tomato flavor. The addition of the butter at the end helped, no doubt, produced the promised silkiness.
Our meal was one of the most simple and perfect Spaghetti & Meatball nights ever. We loved our silky new sauce recipe and were bowled over by the delicious fresh tasting tomatoes. To share of my POMI wealth with you I am holding a Facebook only giveaway this week on my Facebook fanpage. Come on over and take a look! Buon Appetito!
Recipe
Silky Spicy Tomato Sauce
adapted from Bon Appetit May 2011
Ingredients
| ¼ | cup extra virgin olive oil |
| 1 | medium yellow onion, minced |
| 4 | garlic cloves, minced |
| 1 | to 2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes, or more if desired |
| 1 | 26 ounce box (or 1 28 ounce can) crushed tomatoes |
| 1 | large pinch kosher salt |
| 3 | to 4 fresh basil leaves |
| 2 | tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed |
| ¼ | cup finely grated Parmesan cheese |
Instructions
1. In a deep skillet over medium heat add the olive oil and warm it until it is beginning to bubble. Then add the onion and cook until it is very soft, about 10 to 12 minutes. Then add the garlic cloves and stir them in for about 2 minutes, followed by the red pepper flakes and stir for 1 more minute.
2. Carefully pour the tomatoes into the onion mixture and add some kosher salt. Reduce the heat to low and simmer the sauce for about 15 minutes, or until the sauce thickens slightly. Stir in the basil leaves and turn off the heat.
3. Cook the pasta for about 10 minutes in salted boiling water, drain it – RESERVE 1 cup of the pasta water – and add it to the tomato sauce in the skillet.
4. Bring the tomato sauce up to a bubble over medium-high heat and cook the pasta for an additional 3 minutes, until it has completely cooked is is al dente. Remove the pan from the heat and discard the basil leaves. Stir in the cubed butter and Parmesan cheese. Toss well and serve.
Naptime Notes
Naptime Recipe Serving ideas
For a less spicy sauce you can easily omit the red pepper. Or, for different flavors add oregano, roasted red peppers or any host of vegetables or herbs.
Naptime Stopwatch
30 minutes to make
Naptime Reviews
My daughter gobbled her meal right down and loved every single bite! My husband and I loved it too, it is our new favorite sauce!
We made something like this at culinary school (I wrote about it, here: “Culinary School: Three Semesters of Life, Learning, and Loss of Blood” http://amzn.to/eOKJWw on Kindle) except we made our own pasta. Delicious!
I love spicy hot tomato sauce too, fun way to enjoy a bowl of spaghetti!
I would love a box of pomi at my doorstep!
pve
Thank
you for sharing this silky spicy tomato sauce recipe. The recipe seems very
easy to follow. Great work.