GRAND CHILDREN SPECIAL – PASTA WITH FRESH TOMATO SAUCE

Pasta with fresh tomato sauce is a favorite lunch or dinner for grandchildren. I am adding this recipe to the site as per their request.

Course: Lunch/Dinner

Preparation Time: 5 minutes  Cooking time: 25 minutes  Total time: 30 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• 8 medium size red juicy tomatoes
• 2 tbsp of water
• 5 to 6  tbsp of olive oil, half  to be used for cooking, rest for mixing later
• 1 medium size onion, cut into small pieces
• 3 small garlic clove, cut into small pieces
• ¾ tsp of sea salt, more can be added as per taste
• ½ tsp of dry oregano or mixed herbs
• 100 gm mature cheddar cheese, grated. Any other hard cheese can be used as per your choice
• Few basil or parsley leaves, cut into small pieces
• 500 gram pasta

Method:

1. Wash the tomatoes. Cut these in big pieces. Take a big pan and add these to the pan. Add water and keep on a medium/high heat. Let it boil. As soon as it starts boiling, reduce the heat and let it simmer until tomatoes become soft. It may take 8 to 10 minutes.
2. Once these are soft, they should be mashed completely so that no big piece is visible.  Another option is to add the tomato liquid into a food processor and crush these nicely. Keep these aside.
3. Take a medium size heavy based pan and put on medium heat. Add two to three tbsp of olive oil and once it is a little hot, add onion and garlic and stir it for 1 or 2 minutes until these are a little pink. Add mashed or crushed tomato mixture and salt and increase the heat. Once it starts boiling, add any herb of your choice such as mixed herbs or oregano and reduce the heat to medium and leave it to simmer until the sauce is thickened. This may take 12 to 15 minutes.
4. In another big pan add enough water for boiling the pasta. The heat should be kept on high. Add a little salt and 1 tsp of olive oil. As soon as it starts boiling, add pasta and leave it uncovered on high heat. Keep the pasta a little undercooked or cook it as per the instructions given on the packet.
5. Once cooked, drain the water, keeping half a cup of water which can be used later if required.
6. Add the tomato sauce, half of the cheese, little black pepper to the boiled pasta and mix these nicely.  Few spoons of pasta water can be added if it starts sticking. Add some olive oil.
7. Transfer into a serving bowl and decorate with basil or parsley leaves and serve while it is hot.
8. Some more grated cheese can be added to the pasta before eating.

Special Note:

To make it vegan, any plant based cheese can be used.