Baked Tomato Sauce (and Pasta)

Ok, I’m really back this time. And, with a first for cooking (for me at least). I used anchovies! I found this recipe on epicurious and decided to use it the other night when I was feeling lazy. It’s just a basic pasta with sauce, but you bake the sauce. You pretty much just dump everything into an oven safe container and leave it alone. What more could you ask for?

It turned out nicely. After you bake the ingredients, everything turns into a paste like substance which sticks to the pasta nicely.  I think the anchovies took away from the taste of the tomato (which I usually like in a nice red sauce) but it gave a nice saltiness to the dish. I think next time I’ll use this recipe and omit the anchovy to see what the actual difference is.

Since I was using the anchovies, I decided to use the butter as well to get an idea of what it was supposed to taste like, but if you wanted to make it vegan you’d just leave out the anchovies and use margarine. Either way, I sure it would be delicious. In fact, I’m looking forward to making it that way.

Ingredients

• 1 28 ounce can, whole peeled tomatoes (or 2 14oz cans)
• 8 garlic gloves, crushed
• 2 anchovy fillets, diced
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine, cut into small pieces
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (I used closer to 3/4)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 12 ounces pasta

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425°F.
2. Combine tomatoes (crushing them with your hands), garlic, anchovies, butter, and red pepper flakes in a baking dish.  Season with salt and black pepper.
3. Roast until garlic is very soft and mixture becomes a sort of paste (35–40 minutes) checking on it halfway through roasting and giving it a stir. One the sauce is done, use a fork to mash the garlic and tomatoes.
4. Meanwhile, cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water. Drain, but keep about a 1/2 cup pasta cooking liquid.
5. Return pasta to pot and add tomato sauce and pasta cooking liquid. Cook over medium-high heat, tossing until sauce coats pasta, about 3 minutes.