PASTA ALLA POMAROLA - THE ITALIAN GRANDMORTHER'S FAVORITE!

Pasta alla Pomarola - The Italian grandmorther's favorite! image

A great weeknight Italian dish that you can make year-round!

Provided by Marilena Leavitt

Time 50m

Yield makes 4 cups of sauce

Number Of Ingredients 9

Ingredients

4 medium cloves of garlic
1 medium red onion, chopped
--- extra-virgin olive oil
2 lbs. fresh, ripe tomatoes, or
one (28 oz.) can of whole plum tomatoes, packed in tomato juice
--- sea salt
1 tsp. dried oregano
10 whole fresh basil leaves
½ lb. spaghetti (or penne, or rigatoni)

Steps:

Place the garlic on a cutting board and smash it with the back of a knife. Chop the red onion and set aside.
Set a deep saucepan over medium heat and when it is hot add enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the saucepan. When the oil is hot, add the garlic and the onion and cook until, translucent, and lightly brown, about 10 minutes.
Core and quarter the tomatoes and set aside. If using canned tomatoes, break them up with your clean hands in a deep bowl. Add about ¼ of a cup of water to the can, swirl it around, and pour it over the tomatoes in the bowl. Season the tomatoes generously with sea salt and add the oregano.
When the onion and the garlic are cooked, add the tomatoes, breaking them up a bit more with the back of a wooden spoon. Cook over low heat, stirring every now and then to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom of the pan. Tear up the basil leaves and add to the sauce. The sauce will be ready in about 20-25 minutes for fresh tomatoes, and a little longer for canned tomatoes.
When the tomato sauce is cooked, add about ⅓ of a cup of olive oil and let the sauce simmer for a few more minutes, the sauce emulsifies, and becomes rich. Turn off the heat.
Pass the tomato sauce through a food mill, or purée it by using a blender or an immersion blender. Return to the saucepan, taste and adjust the seasoning.
While the sauce cooks, bring a medium pot of water to boil over high heat, with the lid on. Add enough salt to the pot (see notes above), and then add the pasta. Stir and cook until the pasta is just al dente. Drain the pasta and reserve about ¾ of a cup of pasta water.
While the pasta cooks, measure about 2 cups of the pomarola sauce and bring it to a simmer in a large sauté pan. Add the hot pasta to the pan and stir gently. Add some of the water to thin it out as necessary.
Serve at once with a drizzle of olive oil and a generous sprinkle of Parmesan or pecorino Romano cheese. This should serve three people as a first course or two very hungry people as a main course.