Penne Pomodoro - US Cups
This easy penne pomodoro recipe with a simple homemade tomato sauce is a favourite midweek family dinner (and kid approved!), ready in under 40 minutes.
Equipment
- stick blender
Ingredients
- ¼ c olive oil
- 1 medium brown onion roughly chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 28 oz canned whole tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 large sprigs of fresh basil stalks and leaves separated
- 14 oz penne
- black pepper
- fresh parmesan to serve, optional
- extra fresh basil to serve, optional
Instructions
- Cook the onion in the olive oil over a medium heat until soft and cooked through - around 10 minutes.
- Add the crushed garlic and cook for 2 minutes.
- Stir in the tinned tomatoes, breaking them up with a wooden spoon.
- Add the teaspoon of salt, half the basil leaves and all the stalks.
- Bring to a gentle simmer and cook the sauce for 20 minutes until thick, stirring occasionally to check it doesn't stick to the pan.
- Meanwhile, bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and cook the pasta according to packet instructions.
- When the tomato sauce is thick, remove the basil stalks and then using a stick blender, blend until smooth.
- Drain the pasta, reserving 120ml (½c) of the pasta water.
- Stir the pasta into the sauce together with a couple of tablespoons of pasta water and the rest of the fresh basil, roughly torn. Heat it gently. If it's too thick, add a little more water.
- Serve immediately topped with a little more torn fresh basil, black pepper, and parmesan, if using.
Notes
Nutritional info is based on pasta without parmesan.
Penne pasta - as the name implies, I make this recipe with penne pasta, however you can use any other dried pasta shape you like: rigatoni, rotini, pasta shells and bows. Pasta al pomodoro is traditionally made with spaghetti.
Tomatoes - whole, tinned/canned tomatoes. Try not to use chopped tinned tomatoes - the whole tinned tomatoes do taste better, and as this simple tomato sauce doesn't have many ingredients, you want each ingredient to bring as much flavour to the table as it can. You could use passata instead of tinned tomatoes.
Olive oil - use a good olive oil. It may seem like there's a lot of oil in this recipe, but the olive oil makes the tomato sauce more flavourful.
Salt - another ingredient to make the best tomato sauce, packed with flavour.
Garlic - fresh garlic.
Brown onion - you could also use a sweeter milder red onion if you prefer.
Basil - in this recipe I use the basil stalks as well as the basil leaves. They are packed with basil flavour, and simmering them in the sauce gets the most out of your bunch of basil. Don't substitute dried basil.
Keep some of the pasta water when you drain the pasta - this starchy water will help make the pasta and tomato sauce creamy and thick.
To make it vegetarian pomodoro pasta - don't top with the parmesan or check it is vegetarian.
If you are wanting a vegan tomato pasta - don't top with parmesan or use a vegan alternative.
Nutrition
Calories: 572kcalCarbohydrates: 92gProtein: 17gFat: 16gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 10gSodium: 853mgPotassium: 856mgFiber: 8gSugar: 13gVitamin A: 441IUVitamin C: 21mgCalcium: 99mgIron: 4mg
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