This is a quick meal that can be made any weeknight and my Grandmother Victoria made me this dish often as a child.
Grandma was from Rome, Italy, and took simple ingredients and turned them into a labor of love plus a deliciously memorable meal each time she cooked.
The sauce was a basic marinara with fresh tomatoes, basil, garlic, oil, and a little white wine that usually cooked away as it boil.
This was usually served over a hand-cut egg pasta from scratch, a super-thin style with a simple sauce, and always a banquet to us.
Easy Sauce
Back in Rome, Italy where Grandma was born, they were poor and they made very simple meals like this one.
The sauce is basic and if you can't find plum tomatoes, use a good grade canned usually with a white interior coating, and from imported from Italy for the best results in flavors.
Ingredients You Will Need
- plum tomatoes
- white wine
- garlic cloves
- pasta water
- pasta of choice
- salt, pepper
- olive oil
Pasta Recipes
Any egg pasta will work well with this sauce, you can make your favorite pre-packed which we aren't a fan of but in a pinch it will do fine.
If you're looking for a good egg pasta try Grandma's Egg Noodle Recipe.
Also, for the best experience, before using a boxed brand and can't make a fresh batch of pasta, try a fresh pasta in your local supermarket where fresh dairy case pasta is sold.
Optional Additions
- sliced olives
- cooked shrimp or other shellfish
- capers
- onions sliced
- peppers sliced
- wild tree mushrooms
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Yield: 4
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 30 MinTotal time: 40 Min
This is a thin pasta with fresh tomato marinara sauce with white wine and spinach
Ingredients
- 8 ounces of Cappellini pasta cooked al dente in salt water (reserving some pasta water a few cups) or your favorite kind of pasta
- 2- 1/2 pounds of fresh plum tomatoes cleaned and put through the food processor leaving chunks or use canned whole tomatoes put through a food processor (28 - ounce can)
- 3 cloves fresh minced garlic
- olive oil
- 1/2 cup white wine
- salt, freshly cracked pepper to taste
- fresh basil
- 1 bag of fresh spinach (around 8 to 12 ounces) washed
- 1 teaspoon granulated garlic powder
- Options to add to the sauce: use any kind of pasta, add seafood to the sauce like large cooked shrimp, add sliced black crinkled pitted olives to the sauce, sliced peppers, mushrooms, or chopped onion,
- grated Pecorino Romano cheese
- Note: if you would like a thicker sauce use canned crushed tomatoes instead of fresh ones.
Instructions
- Put the whole tomatoes through a food processor or chop by hand into small pieces and set them aside.
- In a large frypan, 3 tablespoons of olive oil, garlic, saute until fragrant around 2 minutes.
- Stir in the tomatoes and wine.
- Cook for around 25 minutes (add any additions except shrimp if using). Add some reserved pasta water if this boils down too much.
- In the meantime boil your favorite pasta in salt water and add 1 cup of pasta water to it and set it aside.
- Around 5 minutes before the sauce is done., stir in the spinach just until wilted.
- Note: if adding shrimp, add to the saucepan and cook around 4 to 5 minutes just before the sauce is completed cooking.
- Place the pasta on a plate, top with sauce and fresh basil
- Optional garnish with fresh cracked black pepper and long shreds of grated cheese if you like.
Pin for later
More Recipes To Try
Cacio e Pepe
Tomato Basil Pasta
Amatriciana
Rigatoni alla Zozzona
