I usually make this with tomatoes fresh off the vine. Since we don't have a garden ourselves, that means anyone’s garden is fair game in tomato season, so guard yours with your life! LOL
Okay, this is something I do by eye, so proportions may be off, use your judgment and experiment. It's truly the best way and the ingredients are so basic, you can't really go wrong.
- 8 or 10 good sized, fresh ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped roughly
- 4 or 5 cloves garlic, minced
- two handfuls of fresh marjoram chopped fine
- one handful of fresh basil, same
- 4 or 5 fresh hot peppers, your favourite variety (I like the cherry hots for this) seeded and diced
- salt and fresh black pepper to taste
- 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
In a medium sized terra cotta sauce pan, heat the olive oil till smoky. Add the peppers and sauté till soft and slightly browned. Remove the peppers from the pan and add the garlic to the pan. Allow to sauté a few minutes then add the tomatoes. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until almost all of the juices are gone. Add the herbs, the sautéed peppers and salt and pepper to taste.
Allow the whole to come just to the boil again and remove from heat.
Serve over a pound of rigatoni cooked al dente and sprinkle with fresh Parmesan cheese.
- Yields: 4 - 6 servings, if you want to share
- Preparation Time: about half an hour
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