This fresh and quick tomato sauce takes only a few minutes to throw together, but contains all the flavor of a sauce that’s been simmered all day
This quick tomato sauce is a far cry from what most Italian Americans may be used to. Growing up in an Italian family, we had pasta with gravy – aka tomato sauce for all the non Italian-Americans out there – literally every Sunday afternoon – again for all the non Italian-Americans out there, Sunday night supper is eaten around 3 o’clock in the afternoon. And while nothing beats a tomato sauce that has been simmering since you woke up that morning, sometimes a quick tomato sauce is just as delicious and it doesn’t have to take 5 hours to make. That’s the beauty of this recipe and why I’m so excited to share it with you today. All it takes it a handful of fresh tomatoes, lots of basil and garlic, and a few minutes to simmer it all together and I swear it tastes just as good as any Italian grandmother’s gravy cooked all day long.
My birthday was this past Sunday, and, like every year, we had a big weekend-long party at my dad’s house upstate. Everyone always tells me how lucky I am to have a big birthday bash thrown for me every year, but I always tell them the same thing: its not as much a birthday party for me as it is an excuse for my family to have a party, a fact that I am more than happy to accept. I come from a family of people who love getting together, and not only am I incredibly grateful for that, but it truly has made me into the person I am today. And while the huge party on Saturday is always a blast, one of my favorite moments of the weekend is when a smaller number of us get together the Friday night before to have a low-key and easy to make meal. This weekend it was this quick tomato sauce recipe served over pasta, which was just as easy to make as it was hearty and filling.
My Uncle Larry and Aunt Diane lean over for a whiff of sauce while it cooks.
I really have to give most of the credit for this quick tomato sauce recipe to my dad, but I think that it was just as easy for him to make it as it was for me to watch him make it. He uses a wok to make cook all the ingredients together, which works really well because it cooks the sauce super quickly and evenly. If you don’t have a wok, you can just as easily use a large skillet or any kind of large and shallow pan. He started out by sautéing garlic in olive oil, quickly followed by a ton of tomatoes: fresh tomatoes that had been diced, whole cherry tomatoes that were bursting with over-ripeness, and a can of stewed tomatoes to add a little more body to the sauce. This quick tomato sauce was then simmered together for about 15 minutes, just until the tomatoes were slightly more tender and the sauce was thickened, and finished at the very end with handfuls of fresh basil.
Fresh basil is added to the sauce; moments later, the pasta is put in.
Instead of pouring the sauce over the pasta, we always undercook our pasta slightly and then add the pasta directly to the sauce for its last minute of cooking. This allows the pasta to absorb all that flavorful sauce while its still cooking, and the starches from the pasta also help to thicken the sauce slightly. We served our quick tomato sauce with spicy Italian sausage (for all the meat-eaters at the table) and a handful of peppery arugula. But my favorite topping is the fresh burrata, a mozzarella cheese that oozes with cream when you break into it and adds the perfect tang and richness when mixed right into this fantastic quick tomato sauce.
- 1 lb pasta of your choice (fusilli recommended)
- 6 oz canned stewed tomatoes (1/2 a can)
- 1 lbs tomatoes, as ripe as possible, diced
- 4 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 large handful fresh basil, minced
- salt and pepper
- olive oil
- For serving:
- spicy Italian sausage
- burrata cheese
- arugula
- Cook pasta into boiling water until just undercooked.
- In a wok or large sauté pan, sauté garlic in olive oil until slightly tender and fragrant, 1-2 minutes.
- Add diced fresh tomatoes, canned tomatoes, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix well, and allow to simmer for 15-20 minutes.
- Stir in minced basil. Add pasta into sauce and cook another 1-2 minutes until pasta is cooked perfectly al dente.
- Serve along side spicy Italian sausage and topped with fresh arugula and burrata cheese.
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