Pasta With Tomato and Mozzarella

Submitted by AaliyahsAaronsMum

"Simple dish with a classic fresh tomato sauce. You may use low-fat mozzarella and skip parmesan cheese if you are pursuing a low-fat diet, and serve with green salad and crusty bread. The sauce can be made well ahead and can be re-heated."

 

• Ready In: 2hrs
• Ingredients: 10
• Serves: 2-3

ingredients

• 350 g penne pasta
• 150 g mozzarella cheese, chopped into 2cm cubes
• basil leaves, to garnish
• grated parmesan cheese, to serve (optional)

• For the tomato sauce

• 1 1⁄4 kg fresh ripe tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 12 large fresh basil leaves
• salt & freshly ground black pepper

directions

1. First skin the tomatoes - put the tomatoes in a bowl and pour boiling water over them and leave for 1 minute, then drain and slip off their skins.
2. Reserve 3 tomatoes for later and roughly chop the rest.
3. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan, then add the onion and garlic and let them gently cook for 5-6 minutes, until they are softened and light golden in colour.
4. Add the chopped tomatoes with about a third of the basil, torn into pieces and season with salt and freshly milled black pepper.
5. Let the tomatoes simmer on a very low heat, without a lid, for about 1-1½ hours or until the tomatoes are reduced to a thick sauce, stirring now and again.
6. Roughly chop the reserved tomatoes and stir them in, along with the rest of the torn basil leaves and take it off heat.
7. Cook the pasta as per the package instructions.
8. When you are ready to eat, gently re-heat the tomato sauce and stir the cubes of mozzarella into the warm sauce and let it simmer gently for 2-3 minutes only to slightly soften the cheese (just begun to melt).
9. Serve the sauce spooned over the drained pasta, sprinkled with the parmesan (if using) and add a few basil leaves as garnish.

Reviews

[Cookin-jo]

The fresh tomato flavour in this sauce is lovely and the sauteed onions add a nice sweetness. We love this! My fresh basil had gone off so I had to use dried basil in the sauce and parsley for garnish but next time I'll make sure I have fresh. This will be wonderful in the summer with garden tomatoes. For us this was closer to 4 servings. Thanks for an excellent pasta recipe!

 

[bluecjan]

didn't skin the tomatoes - i gave it more like a 3/4 but my hubbie realllly liked it and hes so picky the only problem i had was that the sauce sort of disappeared once I put it in the fridge - i might just have to do everything at once

 

[Mirj2338]

Lazy me, I didn't skin the tomatoes, but aside from that followed the recipe as is. Lovely flavor, just needed a bit of oregano to make it perfect for us.