Penne with Yellow Tomato Sauce
I must start off with an apology, because you probably won’t be able to make this exact recipe unless you have some yellow tomato purée in the freezer. But it was so delicious! Back in the summer when we couldn’t eat the tomatoes from our garden fast enough, I put three containers of yellow tomato purée in the freezer, and decided to use one for dinner last night. I also had a package of mixed loose sausage – mostly sweet with some hot – that must have been left over from some recipe a while ago.
Even though you probably can’t make this exact recipe, what I hope you will take away from this is some inspiration and confidence to improvise with what you have on hand. See what you have in the refrigerator or freezer or pantry that can add flavor, to sauté first in some olive oil. Some good ideas include onion, mushrooms, anchovy, ground meat, or even cured meat, such as bacon or pancetta chopped up. If you have a bit of wine in the bottom of a bottle (or if you want to open a bottle for dinner), you can use that to deglaze the pan and scrape up any browned bits before you add tomatoes in some form. If you use fresh chopped tomatoes, that’ll be fine, though you may need to let the juice evaporate until the sauce cooks down for a bit. I had to do that with my yellow tomato purée which was very watery. Canned tomatoes in any form will work, but if you use whole peeled tomatoes just be careful when you crush them – they do squirt!
Here's what I did. Be inspired! And if you have any questions, please shoot me an email!
Penne with Yellow Tomato Sauce
Serves 2
2 Tablespoons olive oil
½ small onion, chopped fine
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ pound loose sausage (mostly sweet with a bit of hot mixed in)
¼ cup dry white wine (red works just as well if your tomatoes are red!)
2½ cups yellow tomato purée, or other tomato product, such as diced or crushed or…
8 ounces penne
¼ cup heavy cream
Grated Parmesan for serving
Put a pot of salted water on to boil.
In a large sauté pan, heat olive oil over medium high heat until shimmering and fragrant. Add onion, sprinkle with salt, and sauté for a minute or two to soften. Add the sausage and continue to sauté, breaking up the sausage as necessary. Once the sausage is fully cooked and the onions are browned on the edges, deglaze the pan with the wine and scrape up any browned bits.
Add the tomatoes and mix gently. Turn up the heat to a high simmer to allow the tomatoes to cook down, checking frequently to make sure it’s not sticking to the bottom. Once the sauce gets to the desired consistency, reduce the heat if necessary until the pasta is done.
Meanwhile, add the penne to the boiling water and set a timer according to package directions for al dente pasta. If the pasta box does not include any adjustment for al dente pasta, decrease the cooking time by a minute.
When the penne is done, reserve a small amount of pasta water in case it’s needed. Turn the heat to medium under the sauté pan, and move the pasta pot right next to it. Remove the penne directly from the water into the sauté pan, using a spider or strainer. It is important that pasta water cling to the pasta to give the sauce more flavor. Add the cream, and gently mix the pasta and sauce in the sauté pan. If it seems dry, add pasta water bit by bit and mix again. Serve immediately with grated Parmesan.