Spaghetti in a Rustic Tomato Sauce

This is that ‘easy peasy get dinner on the table in less than 30 minutes’ kind of recipe. What’s even better? It’s delicious, it feeds a large group, and it includes fresh ingredients. Anyone you serve this to will be so impressed. It’s my rustic tomato sauce!

One of my absolute favorite places is the Amalfi Coast. Its a beautiful place with the best sites and best pasta. Heavy on the pasta! In Amalfi pasta is cooked with fresh ingredients, in a simple tomato or olive oil based sauce and tossed in fresh herbs. It’s heavenly! One of my favorites was a pasta dish called ‘pasta alla Amalfitana’ its a pasta dish using fresh tomatoes, lots of garlic, pepperoncini (red pepper flakes), herbs, and lemon zest. The tomatoes are cooked low and slow with olive and the rest rest of the ingredients until they break down and burst to create a rustic style tomato sauce. Some restaurants serve this as is while others throw in fresh shellfish to take it over the top. The results are amazing! Literally, so good!

I love recreating dishes that I’ve tasted during my travels and this is one that I love to make at home. I mean, who can resist a simple dish that’s easy to execute and tastes amazing? No one!

Here’s the scoop:

• To make this dish, you’ll definitely need the Home Beis Amalfi blend. It’s packed with all of the herbs, and citrus that’s need to really create the most authentic version of this dish. I would typically recommend alternative but there are none out there that are close to this one. It has all of the flavors that make this dish magic

• The Amalfi blend already has some red pepper flakes which adds a hint of spice but if you wish to make this dish s bit more spicy, feel free to add in more

• I threw in langoustine to take this dish over the top but you can serve as is. Adding shellfish is optional

• Cherry tomatoes are best for this dish. The sweetness in the tomatoes is one of the secret ingredients for this sauce. Other tomatoes varieties just won’t cut it

• I love using Grass Fed butter in this dish because it also adds to the creaminess of the sauce. When I sauce creamy, I mean it creates a nice thick and velvety sauce along with the tomatoes

Ingredients:

• 1 pint of cherry or grape tomatoes

• 6-7 cloves of garlic, mashed or finely diced

• A quarter of a medium white onion, finely diced

• 1 tablespoon of the Home Beis Amalfi blend

• 1/3 cup of dry white wine, like Sauvignon Blanc

• 2 tablespoon of Grass Fed butter, separated

• 1/2 cup of pasta water

• 2 tablespoons of grated parmesan

• 1 16 ounce pack of spaghetti or linguine, cooked as directed on package

• 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, for cooking

• Parsley, finely chopped as garnish

Directions:

First we create the base for the sauce. Heat a deep cooking pan under medium to high heat. Add the olive oil to the pan along with the garlic and onion. Sauté until fragrant. Then, add in the Amalfi blend and combine. Sauté for another 1-2 minutes to ensure that all of the flavors are combined in the pan.

Now, it’s time to build our sauce. Add in your pint of cherry or grape tomatoes into the pan and stir to combine. Then, add in your white wine and 1 tablespoon of butter and stir once more to combine. Bring heat down to low.. Cover your pan with a lid and cook for about 5-7 minutes on low.

While your tomatoes are cooking in the sauce, boil your pasta. In a deep and shallow pot, add water and salt and then bring water to a boil. Once your water is boiling, add your pasta into the pot and cook your according the directions on the packaging. The timing is usually about 7-8 minutes of cooking time. We’ll use the pasta water to thicken our sauce and we’ll toss the pasta in with the sauce when ready!

While the pasta is cooking we finish our sauce. Grab a potato mashed or a fork and mash the tomatoes in your pan until they burst. Repeat this step until all of your tomatoes have been smashed down into chunky-like pieces. Now, stir the chunks of tomatoes to ensure it’s they’re well incorporated into your sauce. Cover and cook for another 3-4 minutes on low.

Once the pasta is done, we combine the rest of our ingredients to finish the dish. Use a measuring cup to remove some of the pasta water from your pot and add into the chunky tomato sauce. Stir to combine. Next, add in the grated parmesan. Let the sauce simmer for another minute or two while you drain your pasta.

If you’re adding in any kind of shellfish to the sauce, this is when you’ll want to add it in. Add in your shellfish and cook on low for about 5- minutes. Shellfish cooks pretty quickly and won’t require much cooking time.

Finally, we add in our pasta and the additional tablespoon of grass fed butter and toss.

Garnish with chopped parsley and enjoy!