‘La cucina piccolo fal la casa grande (A small kitchen makes the house big)’
This recipe is a wonderfully simple, vegetable forward pasta sauce. It was featured in Stanley Tucci’s new CNN series, searching for Italy, where he calls it, Penne alla Salsa Maria, after the neighbour who taught his mum the recipe.
The recipe starts with a classic Italian soffritto (similar to the French mirepoix), a combination of equal portions celery, onion and carrots. This allows you to add flavour and sneak extra veggies into your pasta sauce, which is a win-win in my book. I add in copious amounts of immune boosting garlic, but you can adjust to your taste. Adding in a tomato passata or pasta sauce next to save time, or if you are in the height of tomato season, pureeing freshly picked tomatoes. Finish with fresh basil and red pepper flakes, if like Mr B, you like a little kick.
Ingredients
Serving: 2-4
- 2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
- 2 sticks celery, small dice
- 2 carrots, small dice
- 1 onion, small dice
- 6 cloves of garlic, crushed
- Jar of passata/pasta sauce or 8 plum tomatoes, pureed
- ½-1 tsp. red pepper flakes (optional)
- 10-12 basil leaves, roughly torn
- Vegan/vegetarian parmesan (optional)
- Salt and pepper to taste
Method
- Heat the oil over a low flame and add the onions, carrot and celery with salt. Sweat until the vegetables are soft.
- Add the garlic for 30 seconds and mix well to combine
- Add the tomatoes and let mixture cook down for 5-10 minutes
- Season to taste and serve with fresh basil on GF Pasta
