A Simple Pasta

Just four main ingredients

My family took exception to the promotion of Marcella Hazan's World Famous Red Sauce. While they thought it was indeed tasty, they felt it had all of  the excitement of a math equation. If it came to a throwdown between Marcella and this recipe, they said this would win every time. Using tomato paste instead of whole tomatoes ramps up the flavor considerably and the sauteed garlic adds to the complexity.

Ingredients

16 ounces of spaghetti (Garofalo preferred)

3 ounces of tomato paste

3 cloves of garlic, minced

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons salt

1. Fill a large pot with water, add salt and bring to a boil.
2. Cook pasta for one minute less than package instructions.
3. Put olive oil in a large pan on your stove. Turn heat to medium. Add garlic and saute until garlic softens, about 2 minutes.
4. Add tomato paste. Whisk to combine oil and tomato paste.
5. When pasta is cooked, drain pasta and add pasta to pan. Toss to coat pasta with tomato/olive oil mixture. Plate and serve.

Wine pairing: Nebbiolo, Sangiovese or Zinfandel