In the south of Italy there are variants of the recipe to make the tomato sauce that accompanies pasta. Here is a recipe that my Italian mother-in-law gave me, who comes from Messina in Sicily. Tomato sauce can be eaten on its own with spaghetti, or it can be used as a base for many of the other pasta dishes that Italian families eat. This recipe has been passed down from generation to generation from daughter to daughter (Italian men rarely cook) and is just as good today as it ever was.
Step one. Take a large onion. Cover the bottom of a frying pan with virgin olive oil. Peel and chop the onion and place in the olive oil, adding a teaspoon of salt. Fry the onion gently until it begins to brown, then add a cup of water and continue to boil, stirring occasionally. As the mixture in the pan reduces, add more water until the onion is colorless and almost dissolved.
Second step. While reducing the onion, you can peel about fifteen medium tomatoes or open a can of peeled Italian tomatoes. The difference to me is minimal between real or canned tomatoes, and my mother-in-law uses both, depending on the season. Peel a medium carrot and cut a piece of beef for braising or frying into several medium cubes.
Step three. Add the tomatoes to the reduced onion sauce and, using a cheese grater, finely grate the whole carrot into the mixture. Add the meat cubes and a couple of cups of water, and simmer for about forty minutes to an hour. Stir the mixture from time to time, adding a little more water if it gets too thick. The sauce should have the consistency of yogurt.
When the sauce is ready, remove the cubes of meat and set aside; they can be eaten later, and they will be delicious and tender.
Boil the spaghetti until cooked through and drain the water, leaving the spaghetti in the pan. Add the sauce to the skillet and mix. Serve with finely grated Parmesan cheese and a good white wine.
This is the basic recipe for the simple ‘pasta asciutta’, which in English translates as Pasta with tomato sauce; this is the staple diet of southern Italy, and is the staple sauce for many other dishes, which I will write about in future articles. Enjoy your meal.
