Pasta al Pomodoro (Tomato Pasta)

Monday, Monday Monday, it is a shock to the system. How can you get home on Monday evening and think about cooking a meal? So I am going to start this blog with a simple healthy dish that you can cook in 15-20 minutes: tomato pasta. Pasta al pomodoro, like we call it in my home, is one of the most common dinners for an Italian like myself. My people have cooked billions of these and have dedicated poems and songs (see this video) to this wonderful dish.

What do you need?

For two people you will need the following ingredients:

• 300gr of pasta - penne rigate n. 41 from De Cecco is your best choice;
• 1 tin of chopped tomato - Del monte, you can find it at Sansbury's;
• 1 teaspoon of vegetable stock powder or 3/4 of a vegetable cube - Knorr is my favourite brand;
• 1/2 of a medium size white onion;
• olive oil - for best results, extra virgin olive oil;
• rock salt - you can use fine salt if you really want;
• grana padano - good quality piece of Grana Padano, do not compromise!! Just trust me for now. I will write about grana padano vs. parmigiano reggiano in a future post.

How do you make it?

Fill a medium-size pot up to 3/4 of its height with water. Add some rock salt and bring to boil. See figure below for an idea on how much salt to use.

While waiting for the water to boil, warm up a few tablespoons of olive oil in a flat frying pan. When the oil is quite hot, add the half onion finely chopped and fry it until it gets to a light golden colour (about 3-4 minutes).

Add the tin of chopped tomatoes and a teaspoon of vegetable stock powder (or 3/4 of a vegetable stock cube) and simmer it at medium/low heat for 10 minutes.

Once the water is boiling, add 300gr of penne rigate (without burning yourself, it happens to me all the time!) and leave it until "al dente". If you don't know what "al dente" means just follow the time specified in the pasta packet. I guess I will need to write a post about the meaning of "al dente" ...

Once "AL DENTE", drain the pasta and mix into the tomato sauce. You can do that in the frying pan if it is big enough! Add the cheese and you are ready to go! Simple, isn't it? If you use the right ingredients (especially the grana padano) it is a very tasty dish!

Enjoy,

Ed