Simple pasta & tomato sauce

Ingredients

• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Fine Sea Salt
• Large Sea Salt
• Cento All Purpose Crushed Tomatoes 28 oz
• Fresh Basil
• White Onion (small)
• White Wine (Optional add-in to sauce)

Drizzle a generous amount of olive oil in your skillet so that it is thinly covered.  Saute half of a finely chopped sweet (white) onion in olive oil until tender. Then add the entire can of Cento Crushed Tomatoes, and add a tsp and a half of fine sea salt. Disburse evenly. If you’re going to add some white wine, add 1/4 cup to the sauce and stir. Then wash and finely chop the basil. If you’d prefer to not have any basil leaves in the sauce, you can put in 6 whole leaves and then remove them when the sauce is ready.

Cook on medium heat until the sauce is gently bubbling. Let it cook covered for 5-10 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes. The sauce should thicken significantly. Then reduce heat to a low simmer for approximately 30 minutes. While your sauce is simmering, put a couple of tablespoons of large sea salt into a large pot of boiling water (enough to generously cover however many servings of pasta you are preparing). I recommend using a “Made in Italy” Pasta that is made of durum wheat.

Editors Note | Why “Made in Italy?” I lived in Italy for over 10 years and the American wheat crops are no longer non-GMO. So you will notice that Italian pasta has a firmer texture, is easier to digest, and has a bit more flavor. I like to use Alessi pasta, but there are a number of varieties that offer 100% durum wheat pasta and they should all be of similar quality.

Don’t add the pasta until the water is actively boiling. Gently stir throughout and make sure there is enough water in the pot to cover abundantly the amount of pasta you will be cooking. Once you near the end of the cooking time, sample a piece of the pasta in the last minutes. If you like your pasta al dente, it will be ready close to the minimum cooking time. If you prefer it softer, you may want to cook a minute or two longer. Once cooked, drain the pasta, saving one cup of the water you cooked the pasta in. You can use this to add to the pasta sauce to make it less thick. I normally like to take the heated pot and put the drained pasta back in it to cover the pasta with a generous drizzle of my favorite olive oil. I like Rastrello EVO which is made in Umbria, Italy but it is produced in small batches and has limited availability. There are a number of small production brands that will really give an amazing flavor to any dish you’re cooking (see links). Then cover the pasta with your sauce and add some grated Parmesan or Pecorino.

WINE | A great wine pairing would be any red wine from the area of Montefalco in Umbria. Most wine specialty stores will have something from that region. Or if you want to pair with something from the U.S.A, a Pinot Noir would be delicious as well.  

I lived in Italy for over a decade and this recipe is a must-know for anybody who truly loves Italian food. This is the most basic Italian recipe that every Italian can make. Even the men! If you’ve ever traveled to Italy or eaten at a really amazing Italian restaurant here in the States, you may wonder “How can a simple plate of pasta with tomato sauce taste so amazing?” There’s a very easy answer – the quality of their ingredients. Their tomatoes will blow your socks off, their olive oil will awaken your palate and the perfume of their basil will make you wish you could find a way to incorporate it into every dish!

BON APPETITO!