Fresh pasta with fresh, fresh tomato sauce. Does it get any better than that?
At the farmer's market last Friday, one stall was selling "Tomatoes with Issues" - ones that were bruised, squishy, etc - for really cheap. We bought the whole box for $2. Though these tomatoes had issues, they made for some real good sauce that Damiano whipped up. There's a recipe below. We added it to some hand rolled and hand cut pasta. Now that's umm, umm, good.
Roasted "Tomatoes with Issues" Tomato Sauce
The great thing about this sauce is you don't need perfect tomatoes for a super flavorful sauce. Even mediocre super market tomatoes will work well. But of course, use the best tomatoes you can find.
-Halve 5-10 medium sized tomatoes (any variety will work). Place on a sheet pan and cover with a generous helping of olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 30-45 minutes at 350 until fragrant and beautiful - they should be breaking down but still juicy (this can be done up to 3 days in advance, just put these in the fridge until you need them).
-Chop a red onion and a clove of garlic and sautee them in olive oil and/or butter in a medium size pan until the onion is translucent.
-Add the roasted tomatoes and let simmer for 20-30 minutes until the tomatoes are well broken up.
-Season generously with salt and pepper. Optionally, add pepperoncino for some spice, herbs like basil or Italian parsley, or whatever else you'd like. If it is at all bitter, add a small spoonful of sugar.
-Mix with 1 pound of pasta and serve at once with plenty of grated parmesan.
