Tomato Basil Rigatoni
Instructions
1. Ready two bowls. Open cans of tomatoes. Take each tomato and gently squeeze it's juices and seeds into the first bowl. Drop tomato into the other bowl.
2. Heat a low pot over medium heat. Once hot, add 3 Tbsp olive oil. Once olive oil is hot, add tomatoes to pot and let soften 2-3 minutes. Mash tomatoes with a potato masher (you can use a fork if you don't have one). Let the tomatoes cook for 3 minutes then mash them again.
3. Add 1 cup of red wine to the tomatoes and stir with a wooden spoon. Keeping the heat at medium, let the sauce cook for 30 to 45 minutes continuing to stir and mash occasionally. If the sauce gets too thick after 10-15 minutes, strain in some of the reserved tomato juices to thin it.
4. Fill a large pot with enough water (8 quarts or so) to cook a box and a half of rigatoni. Salt it really heavily, until it tastes like salty ocean water. Bring the water to a boil.
5. Put the smallest pan you have (preferably a cast iron skillet) over lowest possible heat. Add 6 Tbsp olive oil to pan. Add garlic, basil leaves and red pepper flakes and let them cook until the garlic turns brown, about 10-15 minutes. You can add more basil as it wilts.
6. Once your water is boiling, add pasta and cook until just past al dente, about 10 minutes.
7. Dice mozzarella into 1 inch cubes. Set aside.
8. Once garlic is brown, remove garlic/basil/oil mixture from heat and let it sit for 5 minutes. Once cool, strain the oil through a sieve into a bowl, leaving the basil and garlic behind. Add the garlic/basil infused oil to the tomato sauce.
9. Pasta should be cooked now. Before draining it, scoop out 1/2 a cup of the salty pasta water and pour it into your tomato sauce. Stir. Let it cook 5 more minutes.
10. Drain pasta.
To serve: combine rigatoni with tomato sauce and mozzarella and mix. Top with basil.
