I hope everyone had a nice Easter holiday. I was overwhelmed, once again, by how many people made the Italian Easter Breads. I'm so glad so many of you enjoyed them and that your kids loved them. Thanks for all the e-mails. I baked so many desserts myself this past weekend and each once was special. I made this fantastic cake from Sweetapolita, David Lebovitz's delicious lime tart and this pretty cheesecake.
I didn't want to post this recipe, but Brian made me do it. This is one of his favorite sauces and he'll ask me from time to time if I've ever put it up on the blog. And the answer has always been "no", because although we love this sauce, it's not much of a recipe and I didn't think it was blog-worthy. Well, I've caved in and here it is.
This sauce is a no-brainer. It doesn't even require any cooking. This is the sauce that you want to know how to make when:
1. You have nothing defrosted for dinner.
2. It's a 95 degree summer day
3. You're too tired to really do any cooking.
4. You have to make something in a hurry. Like 10 minutes.
No-Cook Sun-Dried Tomato Sauce
this recipe will dress one pound of pasta, which will serve 6-8
Ingredients:
- a few chunks of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, about 3 ounces
- 1 jar of sun-dried tomatoes, packed in olive oil, about 8 ounces (do not drain)
- 1 whole garlic clove, peeled
- a handful of fresh basil
- 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper
- (optional - some red hot chile pepper, if you like it spicy)
Instructions:
Place the cheese in a food processor and process until coarsely ground. Add all other ingredients to the food processor and process until you get the texture you like. I process it pretty finely.
I used Sagnarelli pasta for this dish. You can use any shape pasta you like.
Orecchiette is a favorite for this because it holds the sauce so well.
Toss with freshly cooked hot pasta. Add a little hot pasta water to the pasta and sauce as you are tossing. Because of the amount of cheese already in the sauce, you really won't need additional cheese for grating. Generally, you don't need salt for this dish because the Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese is so salty. Taste and adjust the seasoning according to what you like.
