Tomatoes and Pasta Bolognese

It's Grant with another recipe from his kitchen:

Ahhh... tomatoes. This time of year is one of my favorites...fresh homegrown tomato season. I plant my own, I buy them, and if I'm lucky, people give them to me. I can truly say, that behind onions (of course), they are my favorite flavor. Any resemblance between a homegrown tomato and the hard flavorless supermarket varieties is purely genetic.

This year has been exceptional for the tomatoes in spite of the drought. Most every gardener that I know has had tremendous success this summer. So what do we do with this versatile product? A vast majority of mine are eaten standing over the sink, salt shaker in hand. One of my plants was a chocolate cherry variety and at least half of those were eaten standing in the garden. Such sweet succulent little buggers they are.

Canned whole or juiced, salsa, sauce, salads, pickled, roasted, or grilled - there is just no wrong way to enjoy them. They are highly acidic, loaded with vitamin C, and a good source of fiber. They also contain the beneficial antioxidant lycopene.

Tomatoes are actually a fruit, although on many menus they are considered to be the vegetable. They were once believed to be poisonous, as they a member of the nightshade family. Thank heaven that was disproved. The tomato is native to western South America and Central America. Cortez took the seeds to Europe and now they are available world wide.

So faced with an abundance this season, I set out to make some sauce, which I then turned into a Bolognese sauce for pasta. Not a traditional Bolognese sauce, but one made with Italian sausage. And I rounded it out with some fresh home made pasta. Here's how it all went down.

First I made the tomato sauce;

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped coarsely
5 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 cup sweet peppers
6 oz zuchinni, peeled and diced
2 lbs fresh tomatoes, cored and quartered
2 T fresh flat leaf parsley
2 T fresh basil
1 T fresh thyme
1 T fresh oregano
Sugar, salt, and pepper to taste.
Tomato paste (optional)

Heat oil in saute pan and add onion, garlic, peppers, and zuchinni.

Saute until they begin to brown, then add tomatoes and herbs.

Season with a little salt and pepper, and cook until all is soft, 1 hour or so. Pass through a food mill or strainer, pushing through as much of the solids as possible.

Simmer in a saucepan and add a little tomato paste, if needed, to reach your desired consistancy. You may add a little sugar, if needed. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.

Makes 4 cups.

While that was cooking, I started on the homemade pasta.

1 egg
1 teaspoon water
1 teaspoon oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 to 1 cup 00 pizza flour (I had this on hand, you could certainly use all purpose flour also)

Mix egg with water and oil in a bowl. Add salt and 3/4 cup flour and mix well. Add more flour, if needed, to make a stiff dough.

Turn onto floured board and knead until smooth, 5-10 minutes.

Wrap dough with film and let rest one hour.

Unwrap dough and roll out to desired thickness with a rolling pin or a pasta machine.

Cut into desired shape or size. For this recipe, I rolled it very thin and cut it in 1/2 inch wide strips.

At this point you can let it dry, boil it right away, or freeze it. It cooks very quicky in boiling salted water, depending upon the thickness, 2-5 minutes.

When the sauce was done, I made the Bolognese.

2 T Olive oil
1/4 cup diced onion
1/4 t red pepper flakes
3/4 lb. bulk Italian sausage
1/2 cup red wine
2 cups tomato sauce
2 T fresh flat leaf parsley
2 T fresh basil
1 T fresh thyme
1 T fresh oregano
Salt and pepper to taste.
1/2 cup heavy cream

Heat oil in saute pan, add onions and pepper flakes and sweat until tender. Add sausage, crumble, and cook through. Drain any fat if necessary.

Add wine and reduce slightly. Add sauce and herbs and simmer until meat is tender, 1/2 hour or so.

Add cream and heat through. Adjust seasoning to taste.

Serve with pasta. Makes 4 cups.

Enjoy with a glass of red wine and your favorite people.

Comments

[Ally's Sweet & Savory Eats]

This pasta and sauce looks great!!!

[Tai Johnson-Spratt]

That looks amazing and has inspired me to pick the rest of the ripe tomatoes in the garden. I think I wil make a big batch of sauce and can some for later when there are no more garden fresh tomatoes.

[Amy]

Hi Ally - the sauce and pasta WAS great. I wish he'd made more so we could have had more in the freezer. I've put in my request. :)

[Amy]

That sounds like a plan, Tai! Grant will hopefully do that too, so we'll have more!