Pasta with Yellow Tomato Sauce

So yesterday I poo poo'ed about watching the Emmys. Guess what I did last night? I watched the Emmys with a couple of friends...sue me. Did you watch them? I was pretty bored. Of course I had to cook for my friends. In the morning I went to the farmers market with a very short list and ended up with way more things than I had intended to buy. Surprisingly, I was able to resist the figs, but I can't make any promises that you won't be seeing my fig jam turn up in something soon. There were still tons of great tomatoes so I picked up quite a few Romas so I could slow roast them, but later I saw this giant yellow heirloom tomato that caught my eye. I remembered on Saturday I was watching that new show The Cooking Loft and thought this tomato would be good in one of the sauces they featured. This was so good and tasty. I only had one giant tomato and I halved most of the other ingredients and it worked out well. I used a larger amount of red pepper flakes so it was a spicy tomato sauce which I love. Adding the olive oil in the end made the sauce really creamy tasting. I would definitely make this again and experiment with other kinds of tomatoes. I tried to make it a little healthier by using whole wheat pasta with flax. It's a little harder to tell the color of the sauce, but believe me it is on there. This is a keeper.


Pasta with Yellow Tomato Sauce
(Adapted from Alex Guarnaschelli)

1 large yellow heirloom tomato
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
5 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 shallots, thinly sliced
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tablespoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 pound whole wheat penne pasta (cavatappi would work well too and was actually)
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup water
10-15 basil leaves
Grated Parmesan for serving

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Score the bottom of the tomato and add it to the boiling water. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes until the skin begins to start to peel away from the flesh. Remove the tomato with a slotted spoon and place in an ice bath. Once the tomato has cooled, peel and quarter. Scoop out the seeds and press the liquid through a sieve. Roughly chop the rest of the tomato and set aside.

In a large skillet, heat one tablespoon of olive oil. Add the garlic, shallot, and red pepper. Season with salt and pepper. Add the sugar and oregano and cook until the shallots are translucent.

Add tomato and liquid to the shallots. Stir in 1/2 tablespoon salt, and one teaspoon of pepper. Cook until the the tomato flesh loses it's shape, about 8-10 minutes. Add the water and simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente. Reserve a little in case

Put sauce in a blender and puree until smooth. Slowly add the vinegar to the opening in the lid of the blender. Slowly pour in the remainder of the oil.

Pour the pasta into the skillet and add the sauce. Toss to combine. If the sauce is too thick, add the reserved pasta water. Chop the basil in a chiffonade and stir in to the pasta. Serve with grated Paremesan cheese.