Pasta al Pomodoro

Before I get into tonight's recipe, I wanted to share a picture of what I had for dinner this past Saturday night:

The picture is a little dark, but it is quail stuffed with duck meat with some sauteed mushrooms on the side, drizzled with this sauce that I can't remember what it was, but it was AMAZING!! I had a work conference in California over the weekend, and we went to this really amazing restaurant on Saturday night. This dinner was incredible! I just had to share :-)

After being out of town and eating out for three days, it is always nice to come home and have a home cooked meal. Here is a picture of tonight's recipe:

Pasta al Pomodoro is Italian for pasta with tomato sauce. This home-made spaghetti sauce was delicious! I thought this sauce had a fantastic flavor to it. I loved the pinch of red pepper flakes that you add to the sauce. It wasn't overbearing, but it provided an overall nice, subtle flavor to the sauce. I thought that really helped set this sauce apart from jarred sauces.

I decided to add ground turkey to the sauce, which I'm really happy I did! I cooked the ground turkey in a separate skillet, and then added it to the sauce as it was thickening. All of the flavors tasted wonderful together - the turkey, the onion and garlic, the red pepper flakes, the basil, all of it! I altered just a few things. I pretty much followed the recipe, but at one point it has you reserve a 1/2 cup pasta cooking water and mix that in with the sauce to loosen it up some. I'm not sure if adding the meat to the sauce changed the consistency of the sauce at all, but I didn't think it needed to be loosened up at all, so I didn't add the water to the sauce. I also didn't add the butter to everything at the end. I was so happy with how tonight's dinner turned out!

I highly recommend you give this spaghetti sauce a try the next time you find yourself reaching for jarred spaghetti sauce!

Pasta al Pomodoro

Total time: about 40-45 minutes  Yield: 4 servings

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, minced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 pinch crushed red pepper flakes
1 28oz can peeled tomatoes, pureed in a food processor
Kosher salt
3 large fresh basil sprigs
12 oz bucatini or spaghetti
2 tbsp cubed unsalted butter
1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan or Pecorino

1. Heat extra-virgin olive oil in a 12" skillet over medium-low heat. Add minced onion and cook, stirring until soft, about 12 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring for 2-4 minutes. Add crushed red pepper flakes; cook for 1 minute more. Increase heat to medium, add pureed tomatoes and season lightly with kosher salt; cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens slightly and the flavors meld, about 20 minutes. Remove pan from heat, stir in basil sprigs, and set aside.
2. Meanwhile, bring water to a boil in a 5-qt. pot. Season with salt; add spaghetti or bucatini and cook, stirring occasionally, until about 2 minutes before tender. Drain pasta, reserving 1/2 cup pasta cooking water.
3. Discard basil and heat skillet over high heat. Stir in reserved pasta water to loosen sauce; bring to a boil. Add pasta and cook, stirring, until sauce coats pasta and pasta is al dente, about 2 minutes. Remove pan from heat; add butter and cheese; toss until cheese melts. Transfer to warm bowls; serve with more cheese, if desired.