If you have ripe, full-flavoured tomatoes on hand, you often don鈥檛 need many more ingredients to create a splendid, late-summer dish. Perhaps the best example of that is spaghetti al pomodoro.
Pomodoro is the Italian word for tomato.
As with any dish that has been made for eons, in Italy and elsewhere, the tomato sauce varies from cook to cook. For example, it could be made with canned tomatoes that are pur茅ed.
In many cases, when made with fresh tomatoes, it鈥檚 more of a rustic mixture. Tomatoes such as roma (plum) are cooked in a generous amount of olive oil with onions and garlic until they start to break down and a chunky sauce forms.
Before making that sauce, some recipes ask you to first blanch and remove the skin on the tomatoes. Others, such as mine, do not. When I have ripe, beautiful, locally grown tomatoes I want to eat the whole thing and when they are that fresh, the skins seem to almost melt into the sauce.
I used two pounds of tomatoes for my spaghetti al pomodoro recipe that serves four. That might seem a lot, but when the chopped tomatoes slowly simmer and break down, the mixture deliciously reduces. When ready, you end up with about three cups of sauce, about three quarter cups per bowl of spaghetti, a nice amount.
For added richness, some recipes, including mine, will add a bit of butter to the sauce, before the spaghetti is tossed into it with chopped fresh basil and freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
You鈥檒l notice and might wonder why many recipes, where pasta is tossed with a sauce, will ask you add to some of the pasta cooking water. It鈥檚 because the starchy, salted water will further season the pasta and help the sauce adhere to it, while at the same time preventing the pasta from sticking together. It will also give the sauce a more silky texture.
I serve spaghetti al pomodoro with some sliced Italian bread or baguette to clean up any tasty tomato sauce left in the bowl. For the wine, if I am in the mood for something white, I鈥檒l go with a crisp, nicely acidic B.C. Pinot Grigio. If I鈥檓 in the mood for red wine, I鈥檒l choose a light- to medium-bodied Italian Montepulciano d'Abbruzzo, Chianti or Nero d鈥檃vola.
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Spaghetti al Pomodoro
Spaghetti cooked and tossed with a simple, but richly flavoured fresh tomato sauce.
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: About 30 minutes
Makes: Four servings
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1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup finely diced onion (about 1 medium)
2 medium or large garlic cloves, minced
2 lbs. roma (plum) or other ripe, red tomatoes, cored, halved and cut in 1/2-inch cubes
鈥� a few pinches crushed red chili (pepper) flakes
鈥� salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
375 grams dry spaghetti
1 Tbsp soft butter (optional)
10 to 12 medium fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for sprinkling and at the table
4 small sprigs of basil, for garnish (optional)
Set a large pot of lightly salted water on the back of the stove to cook the spaghetti, but don鈥檛 turn the heat on underneath it yet.
Place 1/4 cup oil in large and wide skillet (mine was 12 inches wide) set over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until quite tender and light golden, about six to seven minutes. Mix in the garlic and cook and stir one minute more. While garlic is cooking, turn the heat on under the pot of water to medium-high and bring to a boil.
When garlic has cooked one minute, add the tomatoes and red pepper flakes to the skillet. Bring mixture to a simmer and gently cook, adjusting the heat as needed, until tomatoes soften, start to fall apart and a chunky pasta sauce forms, about 15 to 20 minutes.
While the tomatoes simmer, add the spaghetti to the boiling water and cook until just tender, about seven to eight minutes.
When the tomato sauce has finished simmering, season it with salt and pepper.
Drain the cooked spaghetti, reserving one cup of the cooking water.
Add spaghetti, butter (if using), three-quarters of the sliced basil and the 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese to the sauce and toss to combine. Mix in some or all of the reserved pasta water to loosen the pasta, as needed.
Divide pasta among bowls, sprinkle with remaining sliced basil and bit of grated Parmesan cheese. Garnish each bowl of pasta with a basil sprig, if desired. Serve the pasta with additional Parmesan cheese for grating at the dining table.
Eric Akis is the author of eight cookbooks. His columns appear in the Life section Wednesday and Sunday.
