The Gab Housewife Chronicles: Xmas Pasta {Oven-Dried Tomatoes Penne}

12.26.2011

Xmas Pasta {Oven-Dried Tomatoes Penne}

So, for Christmas, we usually and have lunch with my grandparents. So, this year, grandma found out I have a blog were I upload some recipes and asked me to cook the Christmas pasta. My mom usually was the one cooking the pasta. Some years she made pasta with cheese sauce and some others with tomato sauce.

This year, grandpa asked me to make tomato sauce pasta. So I figures, why wouldn't I use, besides the regular tomato pasta, some dried tomatoes like the ones I dried some months ago? So here it's the recipe.

I used the same recipe I used last time, so that recipe part I'm going to skip it. If you want the complete recipe, you can go to the post Oven Dried Tomatoes, but I will still post some new pictures.

Now, the pasta. I used two Hunt's traditional tomato spaguetti sauce and 1 Ragu Beef Tomato sauce. Then, I added around 1.5 cups of oven dried tomatoes (you can use regular sun-dried tomatoes, without the liquid). And of course, 800 gr or 1.75lb penne pasta. No salt, no pepper, not anything else.

Oh, and you will use 1 stick of butter. Half for the sauce, and half for the pasta. And 3 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese (that are not shown in the picture).

So place one-half of the stick of butter (in low heat) and when is melting, start by adding one by one, the tomato sauce bottles. Make sure you reserve a little bit of sauce (around 1/2 bottle) in order to help the tomatoes blend. Later you will get it.

Now, with a hand mixer (or a blender or a food processor if you prefer chunks) blend the tomatoes with a little bit of the sauce. You need a liquid in order to blend them (unless you are using a food processor). So add a little bit of the sauce and blend there the tomatoes.

Now, add the tomato paste you will get by hand-mixing the tomates with the sauce. Stir until well blended and let it simmer. Leave it there for 5 minutes and turn the heat off. And stir again.