Quick Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce

I have made approximately 1,001 tomato sauces in my life. Okay, maybe not literally 1,001, but enough that I have a standard go-to version I make whenever I need a basic tomato sauce.

So when I came across this recipe, a couple of things caught my attention. There were ingredients and techniques in here that I hadn't seen in my other tomato sauce adventures, and naturally, I needed to know what they were all about.

At its heart, this is a pretty straightforward tomato sauce. But then the recipe tells you to brown an ENTIRE tube of tomato paste. The whole thing. For a recipe that serves four! I have never used that much tomato paste in a single recipe, so I was definitely curious about where this was headed.

Turns out, that caramelized tomato paste is doing some serious work. It gave the sauce a much deeper tomato flavor, along with this subtle nuttiness that I really wasn't expecting. That's honestly the best way I can describe it. It wasn't an obvious "nutty" flavor, just a little something extra in the background.

The recipe also called for 1/4 cup of wine. I skipped it because I wasn't about to open an entire bottle of wine for four tablespoons. Instead, I used 1/4 cup of vegetable stock. I'm sure the wine would have added a little more depth, but honestly, the vegetable stock worked just fine for me.

Pro tip: If you're adding cream or milk to a tomato-based sauce, warm it up a little first. You're basically tempering it so it doesn't get shocked when it hits the hot, acidic tomato sauce. If you dump cold cream straight into the tomatoes, it can curdle. It will still taste perfectly fine, but visually? Not exactly the look we're going for.

Would I make this sauce again? Probably not. It was good, but I don't think it needs to replace my standard tomato sauce.

However... I may absolutely steal the caramelized tomato paste trick and add it to my regular recipe. That little step brought more flavor to the sauce than I expected, and I'm always happy to steal.

Quick Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce

Recipe from Damn Delicious

Serves 4

• 12 ounces cavatelli pasta
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 (4.46-ounce) tube tomato paste
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional
• ¼ cup dry red wine
• 1 (14-ounce) can pureed or crushed tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• ⅔ cup heavy cream
• ⅓ cup freshly grated Parmesan
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 2 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley leaves

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions; reserve 1/2 cup water and drain well.

Melt butter in a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Add onion to the skillet, and cook, stirring frequently, until translucent, about 2-3 minutes.

Stir in tomato paste, garlic, Italian seasoning and crushed red pepper flakes until the tomato paste begins to brown and caramelize, about 4-5 minutes.

Stir in wine, scraping any browned bits from the bottom of the skillet.

Stir in tomatoes and sugar. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until reduced and thickened, about 8-10 minutes.

Stir in heavy cream and Parmesan until well combined and cheese has melted, about 1 minute.

Stir in pasta and reserved pasta water, about 1/4 cup at a time, until desired consistency is reached; season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Serve immediately, garnished with parsley, if desired.