Italian Recipes

Giacomina’s Fresh Tomato Sauce

Authentic Italian Fresh Tomato Sauce

Ingredients
8 large fresh tomatoes,
diced into small pieces
1/2 cup Italian virgin olive oil
8 cloves fresh garlic,
chopped or minced
3/4 cup fresh basil, minced

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
Tomato Sauce

To cook sauce, heat olive oil over medium heat in a large cast iron skillet or heavy saucepan. Add garlic and cook until tender. Add fresh tomatoes and cook until just heated through. Stir in basil and salt. Serve tomato sauce over cooked spaghetti or other Italian pasta and top with parmesan cheese. Serve with french bread and extra parmesan cheese at the table. This sauce recipe makes enough for about 6 servings.

Note: Do not over-cook the tomatoes. You want them softened slightly but not mushy. Cook till al dente.

To make your pasta hard to forget, make sure to serve it with this great recipe that comes in handy during family get-togethers.

What you will need:
• 3 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
• 2 med. onions, minced
• 1 med. green pepper, minced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp. table salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 6 oz can tomato paste
• 1 lb. tomatoes
• 1 tsp. oregano
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

Directions
In a saucepan, heat the oil and sauté onion, pepper and garlic. Add the other ingredients except the cheese. While stirring once in awhile, simmer for half an hour. Add cheese on top before serving with noodles.

Even if it’s not holiday season, make your day a special one by preparing a fast but luxurious pasta meal with this recipe. It will surely captivate your senses and make you miss it.

What you will need are the following:
• 14 oz can tomato juice
• 6 oz can tomato paste
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon table salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoon red pepper
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• Lard
• 1 pack Italian sausage

Directions:
Set the stove on low heat. Combine the tomato juice and paste in a pot and place it on the stove. Add in minced garlic, condiments and spices while stirring. In another pan, heat the lard until medium cooked. Add in the Italian sausage and fry thoroughly. After frying, mix with the contents of the pot and cook for 3 hours. Better serve with cooked noodles.

Being an Italian food aficionado, I have always appreciated anything Italian. Even my sons share this fascination with Italian food. So, I am really pleased to read about January 17th being celebrated as the International Day of Italian Cuisine. This is hosted by the chefs of the Virtual Group of Italian Cooks or GVCI.

To showcase the importance of maintaining standards of traditional and authentic Italian dishes, Italian chefs around the world will prepare a traditional dish of Tagliatelle al Ragù alla Bolognese. This dish is a popular contribution of the City of Bologna in Emilia Romagna.

Cesare Casella, Dean of the Italian Culinary Academy, will host the two day event in New York City participated by Chicco Cerea, Mario Batali and many other Italian chefs from around the world. Anyone can join the celebration and be part of the festivity.

Food lovers who believe in the authentic way of preparing Italian recipe can register and participate in the celebration or can try preparing Ragù alla Bolognese at home. There are many variants of traditional recipes of this dish but one can look up Tagliatelle al Ragu alla Bolognese recipe of Chef Mario Caramella, GVCI president.