Wednesday, January 27, 2010

in the kitchen.

So today, I decided to whip up the simplest tomato sauce ever made. I originally found this recipe on a foodie blog (smitten kitchen). you definitely have to check it out for some good eats. This pasta's not meant to be heavy or overwhelmingly flavorful. The only ingredients used are canned whole tomatoes, an onion, butter, and some good pasta.... tomato sauce at it's purest. Who would've thought that some butter and an onion would be all you needed!



Ingredients:
28 oz canned whole tomatoes (preferably San Marzano)
5 tablespoons of unsalted butter
1 onion peeled and halved
pasta of choice... i would've used fresh pasta, but the box kind i found was pretty tasty. De Cecco is the brand, it's imported from Italy.

All that needs to be done is opening the can of tomatoes and emptying them into a heavy pot, add the butter and halved onion, and bring it to a simmer. Once it's simmering, bring down the heat to a medium low (more on the lower side) and simmer it for 45 minutes. Stir it occasionally and crush the tomatoes on the side of the pot with a wooden spoon. 45 minutes later.. voila!
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You can either throw it over some pasta and call it a day, or you can add some parmesan cheese. In my case I sliced up a piece of fresh mozzarella and put it on top of the warm bed of deliciousness. :] I added a sprig of basil for an appealing effect, but these extra steps are completely unnecessary. :]

With the left over sauce, I made my bf a chicken breast topped with oozing melted mozzarella. All I did was season the chicken breast with salt and pepper, add it to a preheated skillet with some extra virgin olive oil, cook it on one side for several minutes, and flip it over. Once the meat had been cooking on the second side for a couple of minutes, I spooned some tomato sauce ontop of the chicken while it was still cooking. Then, I topped it with a couple of slices of fresh mozzarella and covered the pan with a lid. This next step is also optional, but a minute before the chicken is done cooking, I added some chicken stock to the pan and covered it back up with the lid. I feel like the steam and the moisture from the stock keeps the chicken moist and juicy.
Sorry the quality of most of these pictures isn't that great! It's the horrendous fluorescent lighting in my kitchen!

Cooking is like therapy to me! If you guys decide to try this simple tomato sauce, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

2 comments:

  1. Yummmmmmy, I make homemade pasta sauce all the time, I can never seem to make the same one every time I make it (I change it up a lot, lol)

    Love this rendition, I will def try it out, I'm addicted to pasta!

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  2. omg, i know what you mean! i love anything and everything pasta! this one's reallllly simple, but sometimes i like simple. :] smittenkitchen has some really good recipes, that's where i got it from!

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