The Beginning

This is the beginning and I thought it fitting to use pasta pomodoro as my first work of art to post. It is wonderful to stroll into my garden and pick the newly ripened tomatoes I planted in the spring on La Settimana Santa like my grand parents used to do. It is a pleasure to smell the sweet aromas of fresh picked basil. It brings back many memories of my childhood so this is where I will start.

I finely chopped 4 cloves of garlic added a good amount of extra virgin Italian olive oil to my pan and soon the wonderful aroma of sizzling garlic was in the air.

Soon the garlic was a golden brown and it was time to add 1 slice of oinion. I could say you should add onion to your taste but I'm finding that just the right amount adds flavor to the medley and does not over power it.

I let the onion cook until the garlic obtained an almost brown color and by this time the onion was clear or as some say translucent. I then chopped some fresh basil from my garden and added that to the pan. I let the basil cook for just a few minutes. What a nice smell these few ingrediants created. I then finely chopped 3 ingrediants that are quite common to Tuscan cooking and are used in some sauces and other Tuscan dishes, carrot, celery and parsely. I put these in and sauted them for a few more minutes building on the already wonderful aroma.

I then added 2 teaspoons of tomato paste and blended that in, all the time stirring with my wooden spoon. In the mean time I sliced some Italian mild sausage and got that ready to put in the pan. I also quartered some baby bell mushrooms and measured half a cup of good dry red wine.

I added the sausage first and let it brown with the prvious ingredientes. If you use a leaner type italian sausage there isn't that much fat that needs to be drained. I did not see the need to drain any. There was just a small amount in the pan and it added to the flavor. I added the mushrooms after the sausage was lightly cooked or browned on all sides. I then let the mushrooms brown for a minute or 2 and added the red wine.

  

I let this cook until the mushrooms released some of their liquid. Meanwhile the wine and sausage blended nicely with the mushrooms and rest of the ingredients. Soon it would be time to add my fresh tomatoes. I started slicing my tomatoes while the sausage and mushrooms were simmering.

 

Then it was time to add the tomatoes. I stired them in with the rest of the ingredients and lowered the heat. I covered the pan and let the tomatoes simmer and reduce to sauce.

The tomatos cooked down a little at a time and in 3 hours it looked like a fine sauce to have with some pasta.

I cooked some pasta and after I drained it added 2 tablespoons of butter as is a tradition in my family.

After the butter is absorbed by the pasta I added the sauce.

My pasta pomodoro was complete. Now to enjoy it with some french bread, red wine and Parmesan cheese.