Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce {Recipe}

When I was a little girl and we would eat out at restaurants in Italy, my favorite dish was spaghetti al pomodoro or spaghetti with tomato sauce (what Americans call ‘marinara’ *See note at the very end of this post).  Since I was not an adventurous eater, I knew this dish would be safe. But let me back up a minute. For those of you who are new around here, let me give you a little context…

My parents met in Naples, Italy when my (American) dad was stationed there in the late 1960s. (You can read about my mom’s story here. It’s pretty interesting! She was born in a bomb shelter!) They were married after about a year of dating and I was born after 10 months. Although we were a military family, most of my growing up years were spent in Italy and I only moved to the US after graduation in order to attend the University of Florida.

As a (homesick) college student, I would call my mother for recipes of my favorite dishes. My grandfather found out that I wanted to learn to cook, so he bought me a cookbook called A Napoli Si Mangia Cosi’ (In Naples One Eats Like This). It is still one of my favorite cookbooks and after decades of use, it is falling apart! (It’s no longer in print but I found a used copy on the Italian Amazon site if you want your own copy. Oh, did I mention, it’s in Italian? Yeah. Or you can just follow along as I will be sharing many recipes from this book – translated, of course.)

Many of the recipe titles are in Neapolitan. So back to the favorite recipe. In the book it is called vermicelli cu’ ‘a pummarola ‘ncoppa but I don’t like vermicelli (like angel hair pasta) so I make spaghetti al pomodoro which is the Italian translation. [Literally translated it means ‘vermicelli with the tomato on top.’] 

In Europe, cooks measure by weight not by volume so I will give you the recipe how I would make it, not as it is written in the book. A quick word about pasta brands. Barilla and De Cecco are my favorite but you can substitute any durum wheat pasta or if needed, gluten-free pasta. Dreamfields is a low-carb pasta I have started using that tastes EXACTLY like regular pasta.

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Now on to the recipe…

Spaghetti al Pomodoro

Ingredients

• 1 box spaghetti
• 6-8 large fresh tomatoes, chopped (or substitute canned tomatoes. See note below *)
• 1/2 onion, largely chopped
• 2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• Parmesan cheese
• handful of fresh basil

Procedure

Heat the olive oil in a medium sauce pan. Chop the onion half into large pieces so you can remove it. (I like onion, so I cut mine smaller and leave it in the sauce.) Brown the onions lightly in the oil. Add the chopped tomatoes. Add salt and allow it to cook 20-30 mins. At the last minute, right before removing from the heat, add the chopped basil leaves (I like to chiffonade them.) Here’s a quick little video that shows you how. Serve with pasta that has been cooked al dente.

*The simplicity of the recipe will allow quality products to shine. So if your only option is weak, tasteless fresh tomatoes, I prefer to use a good-quality canned tomato. It’s important to read the label. The ingredient list should list very few items – tomatoes, salt and maybe citric acid. If it lists anything else (spices, natural flavoring, garlic) then skip that one and keep looking. Usually store brands are fine but if you really want to treat yourself get Pomi’ brand. My Publix carries it if you don’t want to order it online. You can ask your store to get it for you. In my pictures you’ll see tomatoes that we can ourselves.

*****

A variation of this recipe is Pennine Sciue’ Sciue’. [Do you remember what the –ine ending means from yesterday?] Pronounced Shway Shway. Loosely translated it means ‘Fast Fast.’ The tomatoes will be almost raw so this is really good in the summer when you have fresh, ripe tomatoes. I have not given you quantities for the cheeses as it’s up to you how cheese you like it and how many people you are cooking for.

Pennine Sciue’ Sciue’

Ingredients

1 box penne

2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

fresh tomatoes, about 5 large (or you may substitute 2 regular cans tomatoes, see note above)

handful of basil

grated parmesan cheese, to taste

mozzarella cheese, cut into cubes

Procedure

Heat the olive oil in a medium sauce pan. Add chopped tomatoes. Cook for only 5 mins. Turn off the heat and add the basil and stir. Add the cooked, well-drained penne to the pan along with the two cheeses. Mix well and serve.

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*Americans call a simple tomato sauce Marinara but if you go to Italy Marinara is not the same. It is often a tomato sauce with garlic and oregano and sometimes red pepper. Marinara means “sailor style” and it is very common in the Naples area, or, because it is “sailor style” it might be a dish with seafood as in Risotto alla Marinara.