Restaurant Style Pasta on a Budget: Mama’s Pasta Pomodoro

It’s Monday, you get off work late. Pick up the kids. Then soon find yourself asking the dreaded question, “What are we going to have for dinner?” Now, you are even more tired just thinking about the fact that you need to go home and cook something. You walk in the door at 6:30pm which is usually the time you are sitting down to eat. You need to find something fast! If this sounds all too familiar, then you need to keep this recipe handy for your ‘go to’ dinner on nights like such.

This recipe was inspired by a recipe I came across from an Italian restaurant. The original recipe uses fresh tomatoes, but I found myself not even having the time to cut up the tomatoes to use. So I have made adjustments, and it is now a family staple in our house. We always make sure we have these few ingredients on hand in case of an emergency situation of dinner 911.

This recipe will easily feed 6-7 people very healthy portions. I hope you like it as much as my family does. It is a very refreshing dish compared to the regular old spaghetti.

Mama’s Pasta Pomodoro

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Serving Size 6-7 people

Ingredients

• One 14oz. package Angel Hair pasta 
• One 14.5oz cans diced tomatoes in Italian seasonings, drained
• Two, 8 oz cans tomato sauce with garlic, basil & oregano
• 12 Fresh basil leaves, chopped
• Two cloves, garlic minced
• 6 Tbsp – Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• ½ cup reserved pasta water
• 2 Tbsp – Butter
• Salt & Pepper to taste.

Directions

1. Boil pot of water for pasta. Tip: add sea salt to the water to help flavor the pasta, use the lid to cover to help boil the water faster. Once boiling, place a wooden spoon across the top of the pot to prevent the water from boiling over.
2. Heat olive oil in a skillet until hot. Add garlic, stir for 1-2minutes. Try not to burn the garlic.
3. Add drained tomatoes, & tomato sauce to skillet, simmer 5 minutes to let the flavors merry together. Once sauce is heated through to a slight boil, add fresh basil.
4. Add pasta to water, boil according to package. Usually for Angel Hair it is about 4 min for al dente. Once pasta is added to water, place wooden spoon back across the top of the pot to prevent water from spilling over the edge.
5. Reserve ½ cup pasta water before draining pasta. Add reserved water to pasta sauce.
6. Add drained pasta to sauce. Mix with a pasta fork.
7. Add butter.
8. Serve immediately.

You can top this with fresh parsley or a few sprigs of basil as you can see in the picture. This will help add to the presentation if you decide to serve it family style. Sprinkle with your favorite cheese, whether it be fresh romano or parmesan.

Note: You can easily omit the butter. It is not required to make this a tasty dish. However, after experimentation, we found that the butter adds an extra element of creaminess to the dish. We like to use our own homemade parmesan butter.

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By Michelle, Today’s Free Stuff Contributor