Angel Hair Pasta with Italian Tomato Sauce

Yes, I admit. Once in a while I do crave for Italian food. So, besides risotto, I also made some pasta this long weekend. I love angel hair pasta because it is finer than spaghetti without compromising the elasticity. Due to its larger surface-area-mass ratio, angel hair can absorb more pasta sauce and thus more flavourful.

So, here's my Italian tomato sauce recipe that serves 4 ~ 6 :

Ingredients:

8 medium size organic tomatoes (cubed)

1 carrot (finely diced or shredded)

4 cloves garlic (finely chopped)

1 cup leek (cut length-wise)

1 large red onion (finely chopped)

1 cup minced chicken or beef

2 cups fresh or canned button mushroom (sliced into 1/2 cm thick)

1 cup black olives (pitted and finely sliced)

1 tbsp red pepper flakes

4 sprigs of fresh thyme (this is the bomb and a must in this sauce)

4 tbsp olive oil

pinch salt

pinch freshly ground black pepper

4 servings of angel hair pasta

generous serving of freshly-grated parmesan cheese

Procedure:

1. In a heavy sauce pot, saute onion and garlic with olive oil at medium heat

2. Add leek and carrot saute for 5 minutes

3. Add chicken and mushroom, saute for another 5 minutes or until the meat is cooked.

4. Add tomatoes, olives and thyme and cook until tomatoes are all mashed and soft.

5.Season with red pepper flakes, pepper and salt and bring the sauce to a boil.

6.Let cool and serve it with cooked to al dante angel hair pasta

7.Top the pasta and sauce with generous amount of parmesan cheese

Most people refrain from using fresh tomatoes because they tend to be sour. So, some option includes stewed tomatoes and puree. Since I am not a canned food fan and I hate adding sugar to the sauce, I balance the sourness in tomatoes with ketchup (shhh... don't judge me).

If you have pesto sauce, add it just before serving.

I love eating this pasta with a mountain full of parmesan cheese shreds and fresh ground pepper... lovely.