The pungent summer flavor comes from a homemade tomato sauce slowly braised in olive oil, garlic, black olives and sage…
Here we go again, like every summer we receive plenty of veggies, eggs, fruits, homemade marmalades and honey from our patients. We have enough supply we can open a small fruit and vegetable shop 
. This afternoon, my daughter asked me: “What’s for dinner tonight Mom?” and before I could respond she said: “What about pasta?”. Oh no not again I said. Well well, kids love pasta and everyone knows that. I had no idea what to cook anyway, so KC’s suggestion was not bad at all. It reminds me that we still have a basket full of tomatoes. I have never tried cooking homemade tomato sauce yet, so I flipped on a magazine “Meine Familie und Ich” (My Family and I) for a recipe. I found one that is easy to prepare but I still have to run to the grocery for black olives, parmesan and salami.
The sauce on the pasta was so delightful! Can you imagine, I cooked 500 grams pasta and there’s nothing left. Our youngest usually eats like a bird, but this time he had three plates full. Amazing, isn’t it?
Here is the recipe of the homemade sauce I’m talking about.
Ingredients:
800 grams tomato
3 fresh sage twigs
2 cloves garlic
150 grams salami (sliced thinly)
100 grams black olives (w/o seeds)
3 tbspolive oil
salt, pepper and sugar to taste
500 grams spaghetti
parmesan cheese
Procedure:
Preheat oven to 200°C. Bring a pot of water to boil. Have a large bowl of iced water ready. Add whole tomatoes in boiling water for about 30 seconds until skin starts to peel. Remove with slotted spoon and place in ice bath for just 2 seconds. Drain and let rest until cool enough to handle, then remove peel and and slice into cubes or halves (if tomatoes are small). Chop some sage leaves, slice salami as thin as you like, peel of and crush garlic.
Mix sage twigs, tomatoes, olives, garlic, salami and olive oil together. Add salt, sugar and pepper to taste. Add mixture in a casserole dish (18 by 20 cm). Put in oven and braise for 25 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare pasta as directed on the package. Drain pasta in colander, transfer to a bowl containing 1 tbsp softened butter and toss quickly. Gently fold tomato sauce into pasta. Sprinkle parmesan and chopped sage to serve.
Bon Appetit!
