Quick Roasted Tomato Brodo and Sacchetti

And they heaved a mighty breath, every soul on board but me,
As they saw her nose again pointing handsome out to sea;
But all that I could think of, in the darkness and the cold,
Was just that I was leaving home and my folks were growing old
Christmas at Sea by Robert Louis Stevenson

Not every night has to be a big dinner hassle especially when trying to get “Christmas ready”.  I often find ready-made macaroni and pasta products that are good quality and let’s face it pasta making is a chore…for two doesn’t happen too often especially stuffed pastas.  Two of my favorites are the sacchetti pasta purses and the spinach ravioli that I found at Sam’s Club…can’t be all bad if there is sweet Marcella Hazan sauce recipe on one of the packages.

I finally used the roasted tomatoes that I stashed in the freezer for a mild brodo style sauce to float the last of the  “roasted red pepper and Asiago cheese sacchetti“ in…sadly the last time that I went looking for the neat little pasta purses, they had vanished, but I’m hoping to find them again this week.  This was such a quick dinner with a special homemade sauce using ingredients that I had on hand.  I had roasted about 3 lbs of plum and heirloom tomatoes and stored them in the freezer.  Any tomatoes can be oven roasted.

2 lbs. or so of roasted tomatoes and all of the accumulated oil and juice
5-6 Kumato tomatoes, rough chopped…love the sweetness of these “brown” babies  
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 shallot, chopped
1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
½ cup red or white wine
Red pepper flakes
3-4 fresh basil leaves
EVOO for sauté
Salt to taste/I don’t use a lot
Freshly grated pram and Romano cheeses

Briefly sauté chopped shallots and garlic, just a couple of minutes, add white or red wine and cook down for a couple of minutes.  Toss in chopped tomatoes and cook down for 2-3 minutes, add basil leaves red pepper flakes and simmer on low for 20 minutes.  The Kumato tomatoes are really sweet so try to use them if you can find them…

I put the sauce through a food mill to strain seeds and tomato skins (easier to strain if you have blended the sauce first with a stick blender).  At this point use as is or heat with additional chicken or vegetable broth. Ladle in cooked, drained stuffed pasta of choice, grate cheese over…

Lazy me served winter fig crostini with prosciutto and balsamic “crema de tondo”, a little fresh mint …ciabatta slices brushed with EVOO, grilled and rubbed lightly with garlic.  Don’t forget to serve with a little freshly ground pepper mélange.