Salsa al pomodoro fresco - Fresh cherry tomato sauce
Why I Love This Recipe
This is absolutely a MUST if you want to conquer an Italian's heart.
The "salsa al pomodoro" is the first thing I learnt how to cook from my father, a certified Napolitan and food lover.
The irony is that, no matter how simple it looks, it is actually a challenge to produce an excellent salsa al pomodoro.
This is the fresh cherry tomato version, perfect with pasta on a summer (or any other time of the year) dinner.
Ingredients You'll Need
- 300 gr cherry tomatoes (check where they come from. Ideally, a sun kissed country/state is best as tomatoes do need a lot of sun to get their typical flavour)
- pinch of salt
- Basil leaves
- peperoncino
- a table spooin of olive oil
- clove of garlic
Directions
1) first of all, it is important to remove the white part inside the cherry tomatoes. I therefore suggest to cut the end of each one, and then proceed with dicing what is left. This will prevent the sauce from being too acidic.
2) dice all the cherry tomatoes and keep their water
3) thinnly slice a clove of garlic
3) heat a large pan with a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
4) when the pan is well heated, put the garlic and let it become golden
5) add the cherry tomatoes and let it stir fry with the garlic a little
6) lower the fire, cover, and let it simmer for 15 minutes adding the basil leaves
7) add peperoncino and a pinch of salt
DONE!
Notes:
You may choose to slice or not the garlic, according to your preference. It is important, however, to fry it and give it the golden colour I was talking about before. This will infuse flavour to your sauce.
If you wish to be 100% authentic in preparing this dish, look for peperoncino from Calabria region, otherwise try to find a more local alternative.
What to serve the sauce with:
- Buckwheat pasta
- Spelt pasta
- Wild rice
- Spaghetti, penne, any type of pasta really...
...To the condition that it is cooked al dente!
