Perfect Pomodoro Sauce With Capellini Recipes

CAPELLINI POMODORO

Steps:

• Heat olive oil and add garlic, cook until garlic turns white.
• Add diced tomatoes and pepper.
• Heat through stirring constantly.
• About 2 to 3 minutes.
• Remove from heat and add basil and half of the cheese.
• Toss gently with the pasta.
• Serve at once and top with remaining cheese.

BASIC PARMESAN POMODORO

Steps:

• Heat a medium nonreactive saucepan over medium-high heat. Add 1/3 cup of the oil and the garlic, and reduce the heat to medium. Cook the garlic, stirring often and mashing gently with a wooden spoon, until golden brown and beginning to soften, 5 minutes. Add the basil, tomatoes and their juices, the carrots and cheese rinds. Stir with a wooden spoon to combine. Bring to a simmer and adjust the heat to maintain a simmer. Cook for 35 minutes stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. Add 1 teaspoon of the salt. Remove from the heat and cool slightly.
• Remove the rinds, carrots and basil. At this point you can use an immersion blender to puree slightly or leave it as a chunky sauce.
• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the penne 2 minutes less than the package directions. Meanwhile, rewarm the sauce in a large, straight-sided skillet set over medium heat. Using a spider, strain the pasta from the water and add it directly into the pan with sauce, reserving 1/2 cup of the pasta water. Before stirring, sprinkle the pasta with the grated cheese. Toss the pasta, cheese and sauce together. Add the butter, the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil and the reserved pasta water and continue to cook until the sauce is creamy and the pasta is al dente. Serve topped with more cheese if desired.

PERFECT POMODORO SAUCE

Steps:

• Start off by mincing the onions. They must be as small as possible. Set aside in a bowl.
• Mince the garlic, then form a garlic paste.
• **Note** To form a garlic paste, mince garlic, add some sea or kosher salt and olive oil, and use the back end of a chef's knife to work the garlic into a paste.
• For the whole tomatoes, remove each tomato by hand and place into a food processor. Leave puree in the can. Pulse the tomatoes until crushed, leaving some texture. Strain through a fine mesh sieve - you'll remove about 1 cup of water. Discard the water and add crushed tomatoes back to puree in the can. Set aside.
• In a sauce pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Cook onions and garlic for about 3-5 minutes, or until garlic begins to smell like it's roasted. It should just start to be taking on color. This step is very important and one where you have to go by the smell rather than the color of the garlic. Once you begin to smell that roasted garlic smell, the onion/garlic is ready. Stir constantly.
• Add tomato paste and stir, cooking the paste for 1 minute.
• Add wine and stir. The wine should instantly thicken, due to the tomato paste. Cook for 2-3 minutes. It is not necessary to reduce.
• Reduce heat to medium/low.
• Add red pepper flakes, oregano, salt, pepper and sugar. Stir and cook briefly for 1 minute.
• Add the tomatoes you pureed and the crushed tomatoes. Stir, cover pot and allow to cook for 20 minutes.
• After 20 minutes, taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Sauce can be cooked longer, but I prefer a more vibrant tomato taste. The longer you cook it, the more rich the tomato flavor will become. This is totally personal preference. After 20 minutes, my pasta water is boiling away and I start cooking the pasta.
• When your pasta is finished cooking, reserve 1 cup of the pasta water. I always add at least 1/4 cup of the pasta water to the sauce. It helps the sauce stick to the pasta.
• Tips on pasta - never, never, never, never add oil to the water and never rinse your cooked pasta. The pasta can be drained and added directly to the sauce, or add your drained pasta to a bowl and toss with 1 cup of your tomato sauce.
• Add basil to sauce right before serving, as basil looses it's flavor immediately from the heat. Also do a final seasoning adjustment, if necessary right before serving. I like to add a drizzle of good quality extra virgin olive oil and an extra pinch of red pepper flakes.
• I cannot stress enough the steps are important, and this generally takes me 15 minutes max to put together -- but all ingredients are personal choice. Add more or less of whatever you like.

CAPELLINI POMODORO (PASTA WITH FRESH TOMATO SAUCE)

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Fill a large bowl with ice and cold water.
• Score a shallow "x" in the bottom of the tomatoes. Add tomatoes to the boiling water and cook uncovered until skin starts to peel off, about 1 minute. Drain in a colander and immediately immerse in ice water for several minutes to stop the cooking process. Peel tomatoes.
• Transfer peeled tomatoes to a food mill, and process until smooth.
• Meanwhile, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook angel hair pasta in the boiling water, stirring occasionally, until tender yet firm to the bite, 4 to 5 minutes. Drain, saving 1/4 cup of the pasta water for the sauce.
• While pasta cooks, melt butter in a large skillet over low heat. Add garlic and salt and cook until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Add pureed tomatoes and as much pasta water as desired. Simmer until thickened, 3 to 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Divide pasta amongst 4 serving bowls. Top with tomato sauce and sprinkle with fresh basil. Serve immediately.

PERFECT POMODORO SAUCE WITH CAPELLINI

Steps:

• 1 Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat
• 2 Once the oil shimmers, add the garlic (to taste), salt and pepper; cook, stirring frequently, until the garlic is fragrant but not burned, 30 seconds to 1 minute
• 3 (If you burn the garlic, use a slotted spoon to scoop it out of the oil and proceed; if you leave it in, it will ruin the sauce
• 4 ) Add the tomatoes and their juices and the sugar; cook until reduced and thickened, 15 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, depending on the juiciness of the tomatoes
• 5 Taste, and add more salt and/or sugar, as needed
• 6 While the sauce is cooking, prepare the pasta: Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil over medium-high heat
• 7 Add the pasta and cook until just under-done, about 1 minute before the cooking time recommended in the package directions
• 8 Drain, reserving 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking water
• 9 Return the pasta to its (now empty) pot
• 10 Check on your sauce
• 11 If you like it chunky, leave it as is
• 12 Or pulse it a few times using an immersion (stick) blender, to make it smoother
• 13 Stir in the chopped basil and butter
• 14 Pour into the cooked capellini; use tongs to incorporate it and coat the pasta
• 15 Let the capellini finish cooking in the sauce over medium heat until just tender, 1 to 2 minutes
• 16 Taste, and add a little more salt, as needed
• 17 If the sauce has become too thick, stir in 1 to 2 tablespoons of the reserved pasta cooking water at a time until you like the consistency
• 18 Serve right away, garnished with a few basil leaves, if desired

ONE-SKILLET CAPELLINI POMODORO WITH SAUSAGE

Steps:

• Cook and stir sausage in large skillet on medium heat 5 min. or until evenly browned, adding garlic for the last minute. Add tomatoes, water and pepper; stir. Bring to boil.
• Spoon sausage mixture to edge of skillet. Add pasta to center of skillet; press with back of spoon to completely cover pasta with liquid. Cover; simmer on medium-low heat 6 min. or until pasta is tender, stirring after 3 min. to combine ingredients. Meanwhile, mix cream cheese spread, milk and seasoning until blended.
• Add cream cheese mixture to pasta mixture in skillet along with the Parmesan and basil; cook and stir 2 to 3 min. or until heated through.