Ginny's Sugo

For 4 servings

1 big red onion
3dl good red wine (same as the one you will be drinking with this marvellous dish)
7 nice medium/big tomatoes
some fresh basil
some fresh or dried oregano
dried chili
pepper
salt
Pasta (Spaghetti, Penne or whatever you like)

 


Well this dish can actually be eaten at any occasion. Who doesn't like a wonderful nice plate of pasta with a delicious self-made sugo. I actually "created" this dish, since I just had some beautiful tomatoes left in my fridge and didn't want to eat 3 pounds of tomato/mozzarella salad. So, what else to do? Well there you go. Also, you can increase this recipe to how much you need, and keep the extra sauce in the fridge or freezer for later use. So let's get started...

First of all we have to get rid of the tomato skin. Yes, I know, why peel tomatoes? Well the answer is very simple: it's much better, gives a better texture, softer in the mouth. The skin is tough and adds nothing to the taste.

Boil a large pan of water, and prepare a large bowl of cold water. Remove the small green stalk from each tomato. Then with a good knife cut a cross in the top of each tomato. Then water is boiling, put two or three tomatos in the pan. Leave them in for 20 seconds. The skin will split, starting from the top incision. Remove them with a skimmer or a spoon, and plunge immediately into cold water. Continue with all tomatoes. Remove tomatoes from cold water, peel off the skin with a knife discard it. With a knife remove the green and hard core of the tomatos ("the bone"), and discard it.

Then start by chopping the onions finely. Put them in a pan with some olive oil and heat up until nice & glassy (for about 7min on medium heat). As soon as you can smell the wonderful smell and the sizzle, pour in the red wine and let it simmer for about another 5min.

After that start adding your prepared tomatos. Add the fresh or dried basil, oregano & chili and let it simmer on low heat for about 2 hours. Stir it from time to time to time, then taste it and add some salt & pepper as you wish. Also if you like it spicy add some more chili.

After the two hours are over, take a masher (yes same as for the potatos) and mash the tomatoes in the pan. You will just love the smell... trust me... Then just leave it on the stove.

Then start cooking your pasta, serve them nicely on a plate and add your magnificient sauce. Add a fresh leaf of basil on top for decoration & buon appetito!

Wine recommendation: Some nice, fruity red wine, i.e. a nice Primitivo

Music recommendation: Dean Martin, Carla Bruni, Marina Rei