Pasta is such great comfort food - everybody loves its. I still remember the days when I started cooking as a student in the UK, doing it with friends and having a blast! My favourite recipe came from an Italian book with a sauce intended to accompany a rabbit dish.
Here is a slight adaptation with paccheri instead of spaghetti for extra sauce magic!
INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, cut in half
15-20 mature pomodorini, cut in half
2 pinches of cane sugar
1/2 can whole peeled tomatoes, crushed
1/2 tablespoon of tomato purée
6-8 black Kalamata olives
Pinch of rock salt
Pinch of black crushed pepper
300gr paccheri or penne rigatti
¼ cup crushed feta cheese (optional)
INSTRUCTIONS
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium fire. Cook chopped onions for 3 minutes until soft, stirring occasionally, then also add cane sugar
Reduce heat to med-low, add garlic and pomodorini and cook for 5 minutes until the pomodorini become a bit tender.
Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water, stirring occasionally, until very al dente (about 2 minutes before it would be done). Normally, for paccheri cook time should be 10 minutes.
Increase skillet's heat to medium, add whole peeled tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add wine and tomato purée and cook for another 3 minutes, until sauce slightly thickens. Once it does, also add the chopped olives.
A few minutes before pasta is ready, reserve half an espresso cup of pasta cooking liquid and add to the sauce in the skillet. Cook for another 2 minutes or until sauce thickens (to your desire).
Remove the skillet from heat, add salt & pepper and stir.
As soon as pasta is ready, drain and throw over the warm skillet.
[Optional] Add crushed feta cheese for extra flavour, stirring until sauce is unified.
