A lovely Italian rose sauce recipe for any night of the week.
When I get bored of rice and if I want to have something classic, I always choose pasta. I have my few favourite recipes like mushroom creamy pasta, eggplant pasta, pasta aglio e olio, penne arrabiata, fettucine alfredo, ravioli with pesto & pine nuts and the list goes on. These are my most favourites. But I don’t mind 😉 to add few more to it. My friend krips took me to a restaurant in little Italy here before few months and we had a pasta based on rose sauce. And we both got crazy about the sauce. It was totally yum, simple, tasty and classy. So, we wanted to try it at home and we did try the very next week. We just loved it. She made it with some chicken and I made it with mushroom. 🙂 I did not take pictures when I made it the first time, I wanted to try and taste it first. So, this time I made with spinach and I baked it with some cheese on top and again it tasted scrumptious. This sauce is really good. You should try it! It’s an addiction I would say!
The way to season everything perfect is by seasoning everything along the way. Season your tomato sauce with salt and pepper, and also your pasta water with salt. Be careful not to season them more as we are adding cheese at the end which will give some additional salt.
You can just have this pasta without baking. I just took an extra step to make it even more delicious. I understand that this recipe has cheese, heavy cream and it makes many guilty. But once in a while we need to treat ourselves with these :), it will surely make you happy and complete! 🙂
- • Pasta – farfalle variety (you can use any variety) – 650g
- • Olive oil – 2 tbsp
- • Red chilli flakes – 2 tsp
- • Garlic – 3 cloves, minced
- • Onion – 1, medium sized, finely chopped
- • Tomato sauce – 450 ml ( I used Hunt’s)
- • Heavy cream – ¾ cup
- • Sour cream – ¼ cup
- • Salt and pepper to taste
- • Sugar – a pinch
- • Spinach – 2 cups
- • parmeggiano reggiano/ Parmesan – 1 tbsp, grated, For garnish
- • Fresh basil – 1 tbsp, chopped, for garnish
- • Mozzarella –½ cup, grated for baking
- Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the package. Boil water and add the pasta with the salt needed for pasta. Then remove and run the pasta through cold water. And toss with a little oil to prevent sticking.
- Take a pan in medium high heat, add oil. Add chilli flakes, onions, 2 cloves of garlic and sauté it till onions get translucent. Then add spinach and sauté it till it shrinks and get roasted a bit.
- Now add the tomato sauce, salt, pepper, sugar for the sauce. Let it get cooked in medium to low flame for 25 minutes until it thickens, stir it occasionally.
- Preheat the oven now to 350F.
- Add the cream and sour cream mixture and let it cook for 5 minutes. When you think it has got into nicely thick creamy texture, add the pasta to it.
- Now transfer this into a baking dish, top it with grated mozzarella and bake for 20 minutes till the cheese melts and turns its color into golden brown.
- Top it with fresh grated parmeggiano reggiano, chopped basil and some crushed pepper just before serving.
2. You can use any kind of pasta you fancy.
