The Marinara of Your Dreams...

Buongiorno Sizzlers! What a spike in the weather we've had! I was NOT expecting the Arctic freeze to hit us so soon, but I'm not gonna lie.... I like it. 

Bundling up and wearing one of my many.many.many.many pair of boots makes me happy. So does the promise of Holidays soon to come! Anywho, I was feeling a bit under the weather yesterday; so I decided to head to the new Whole Foods on San Felipe and Post Oak. WHAT a lovely new space. I almost spent my entire life savings in there!

I decided to whip up a couple things, and one of those was homemade Marinara sauce. I was inspired by a recent post in Bon Apetit and decided to try it out. I never used to care for red sauce until I went to Italy, but I've now become a red sauce snob. I can't help it. You try going to Italy and eating things so fresh and so utterly delightful and then try and come back and open a jar of Prego...not happening. 

And so it was born: Rigatoni in Homemade Marinara with Shaved Parmesano Reggiano

What you Need:

1 box Rigatoni pasta (I was going to use fresh made pasta but got lazy and couldn't find it in the vast aisle)

1 large can whole peeled tomatoes

1 dash of oregano

1 generous whoosh of good salt. Please don't use table salt. 

1 medium onion

1 piece of hard aged Parm/Reggiano for shaving

Fresh basil (not pictured)

What you DO:

In your pan/pot, use either Olive Oil or butter to sweat out your onion. let it sizzle and sautee until fragrant and clear, add your dash of Oregano to let the flavors come out and blend with the onion

Once the onion/oregano is fragrant and cooked well, add your can of tomatoes. I mashed them a bit with a fork to break the larger pieces down. 

Let this simmer and stir occasionally to let thicken. Meanwhile, heat your well salted pasta water. 

Once your water is at a rolling boil, add the Rigatoni, and cook until al dente. Set aside about 4 generous TB of pasta water to add to the sauce. 

Here's where you can decide what to do. I transferred my Marinara into a food processor and pulsed until it was semi-smooth, and the large chunks were gone. I returned the Marinara to the pot, gave it a taste and added salt/cracked black pepper to taste. 

Add your al dente Rigatoni to the Marinara pot and let them mingle and get to know one another. The pasta will continue to cook and the pasta will be infused by the sauce. 

One the co-mingling has gone until you are satisfied, serve pasta with a few sprigs of fresh basil, and shave your parm on top. Voila. Perfect to take the sting out of the cold and warm your bones. 

I'd really enjoy knowing who has tried one of my recipes! If you have, leave a comment and let me know! Have a lovely warm day, and I will be back with a cookie recipe to knock your woolly socks off!