Who doesn’t love pasta with sauce? The pairing of pasta with tomato sauce is possibly the most popular dish to come out of Italy, and that says a lot.
It would be impossible to quantify the number of people across the globe who have enjoyed a plate of pasta with some sort of tomato sauce on top. And just as the fan base for the dish is immense, so is the amount of different recipes.
Any Italian chef worth his weight in parmesan cheese has his or her own tomato sauce recipe. There are recipes that take minutes to prepare, and there are recipes which can take days, so there is undoubtedly a perfect recipe for any time of year.
During the cold winter months a thick and hearty tomato sauce with spicy Italian sausage can warm an entire household. Imagine sitting by the fire in a wool sweater while it snows outside, drinking a glass of Chianti and eating plate of whole wheat pasta smothered with the aforementioned sausage tomato sauce.
Such a thick and hearty sauce would be too much in the spring. For the months of March and April a lighter sauce would be preferable. Perhaps a thinner, more airy marinara simmered with tuna or sardines. Such a sauce would blend perfectly over a plate of bowtie pasta, and enjoyed with a cool glass of chardonnay on a veranda after a light spring deluge.
The following recipe is light sauce with a hint of thickness. If it were a car, it would be a Shelby Mustang 1967 GT 500: a classic, strong and sleek, not a work horse, but it does have enough muscle to take charge of any situation.
Without further ado, here are the ingredients and preparation for a summer tomato sauce al-frescito; preferably eaten with best friends and family, at night and outside, with a glass of ludicrously expensive cabernet sauvignon, just before the hottest days of summer.
Summer Tomato Sauce Al Frescito
Ingredients (Serves 3-4)
- 9 tomatoes on the vine, diced
- 1 medium sized yellow onion, diced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, minced
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- ½ cup red wine – I prefer a classy cabernet
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon chopped basil
- ½ cup beef consume
- 2 bay leaves
- Salt and pepper to taste
Preparation
- In a large pan, melt butter over medium, add onions and bell peppers and sauté until onions are soft, but not burned – about five minutes.
- Add garlic, tomatoes, and beef cosume to the pan. Simmer the mixture over medium, stirring frequently, until the tomatoes are very soft. Once the tomatoes are soft take a fork or comparable apparatus and mash all of the tomatoes into pulp.
- Once the tomatoes are all mashed add tomato paste, red wine, parsley, basil, bay leaves, salt and pepper. Mix the ingredients well in the pan, turn heat down to simmer, and allow the sauce to simmer and reduce for 30 to 60 minutes uncovered, or until desired consistency is reached.
- Serve over a pasta of your choice, penne is preferable. Simple as that.
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