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Tuesday 30 March 2010

Roasted Tomato Pasta Sauce






I absolutely love Italian food! When Matt, Sadie and I moved to Abu Dhabi we were excited to try out all the different Italian restaurants. One that became a firm favourite was an eatery called Biella. They served good fast Italian cuisine and at a great price so it was a place we frequented often. When we moved to Doha in November I was pleasantly surprised to find that Biella had 2 restaurants in town!


My favourite dish at Biella is Spagehtti Al Pomodoro, basically a fresh tomato sauce tossed in with some spaghetti. However, the Biella here in Doha doesn't use fresh tomatoes (canned only) and it is was a true disspointment to discover. So yesterday while I was wondering what to cook for dinner I decided to make my own version and let me tell you I will never be ordering that dish from Biella again! The sauce is really easy to make and is a nice light healthy dish for supper.


I think Matt was slightly concerned that he wasn't receiving any kind of meat with his meal last night but once he finished my pasta dish he said it was amazing and would definitely recommend me serving at our next dinner party! I could not have asked for a better compliment from my carnivore husband!


Ingredients


6 Roma Tomatoes (I used 10 as the tomatoes at the supermarket yesterday were tiny!)
10 basil leaves (I had to make do with dried basil as there was no fresh basil available)
1 garlic clove
2 tblsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
400g fresh pasta (fresh pasta is best used here rather than dried)




Preheat oven to 200 degrees (400 F). Put the tomatoes on a baking tray and roast until the skins are beginning to blacken all over. This took approximately 1 hour in my oven.





Put the whole tomatoes including the charred skin and any juices into a food processor or blender with basil, oil, garlic, sugar & balsamic vinegar. Blend to form a thick sauce, thinning the mixture with a little warm water if necessary. Toss the sauce through warm fresh pasta and serve with grated parmesan cheese.


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