Hello, dear readers! By now many of you have probably heard that I decided to do freelance work in the restaurant business. But don’t worry, I’m still going to share recipes with my readers in every issue of PMQ! I’ll also be spending some time in Europe and will bring back new ideas to help you stay on top of the culinary trends.

This pasta soup dish is one of my favorites. I really love it because it reminds me of my mother, who used to make it for our family. It can be prepared quickly (less than 30 minutes) and doesn’t require a lot of expensive ingredients. You know me—my recipes are always simple and affordable! If you don’t want to use cappellini, just use spaghetti or linguine. Give this a try and then share it with your customers.

Mangia!

Ingredients:

½ onion, chopped
½ c. extra virgin olive oil
6 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1 28-oz. can whole tomatoes, chopped
8 oz. cappellini (angel hair pasta)
½ c. Romano cheese, grated
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper

 

Directions:

Heat the olive oil with onions and garlic in a large saucepan over medium low heat. When garlic starts to brown, add tomatoes (with juice) and raise heat to medium. Season with salt and pepper to taste. When the tomatoes start boiling, reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes.

Boil a large pot of water with salt. When the water begins to boil, break the pasta into smaller pieces and add to the water. Cook to very al dente, only about two minutes. (The pasta will continue to cook in the sauce.) Drain pasta and reserve the boiled water.

Now add pasta to the sauce and stir in ½ to 1 cup of water to make liquid seem like soup. If the pasta seems too dry, add some of the reserve pasta water. Raise the temperature up to medium high and cook for one to two minutes as pasta will continue to cook and finish. Top with grated Romano cheese.