Rigatoni in Creamy Tomato Sauce

Pastas are a general favorite of mine when I'm fed up of the usual roti-dal-chawal routine and craving for some kind of different cuisine. This recipe hardly takes 15 mins and is real easy. Great for dinner on a long tired day after school or work. I personally love this recipe with angel hair pasta and no ricotta cheese.

Ingredients:

Pasta (Penne or Rigatoni or Spaghetti or Angel Hair) - medium box of approx. 500 gm

Onion - 1 medium

Garlic - 2 cloves

Tomato - 1 medium

Tomato puree (or condensed canned tomato soup, I use Campbell's) - 1/2 can

Ricotta cheese - 1/2 to 1 cup (optional)

Butter or Olive oil - 2 tbsp

Red chilli flakes - 1/2 to 1 tsp (to taste)

Italian seasoning mix - 1/2 to 1 tsp (to taste)

Salt to taste

Method:

1. Boil water until bubbling hot with a teaspoon of oil and some salt. Add the pasta and let it cook for 10-12 mins (check box for details). Drain, rinse in cold water and set aside.

2. Chop the garlic, onion and tomatoes finely.

3. Add butter or olive oil in a pan and fry the garlic first. (do not brown them, just until the rawness of the garlic fades)

4. Then add the onions and fry until transparent. Again, do not brown the onions.

5. Now add the tomatoes and fry until they are soft and pulpy and you can see the oil separate a little.

6. Add the chilli flakes and Italian seasoning followed by the tomato puree (or soup).

7. Once it is well mixed, blend in the cheese and check the consistency. I like my pasta a little dry than usual, so I don't add water. But if you like it saucy, then adding water is a good idea. (You can skip this step if you aren't using ricotta cheese)

8. Check the spices and add salt to taste. Toss the pasta and sauce together.

9. Serve with toasted garlic bread and Parmesan.

10. Another variation of this would be to bake it in a small dish with lots of cheese on top. About 10-15 minutes in a 350 F oven should be good. I usually skip this step because of all the cheese it needs!

Source:

I tried this recipe randomly going by my taste. But I did find a lot of similar recipes online in thousands of blogs and food sites. So if you have a concern with this recipe, please leave a comment and I will get back to you.