Pink Pasta Sauce with Sautéed Cherry Tomatoes

5 from 1 vote

This pink sauce pasta recipe is, at its heart, a tomato cream sauce topped with fresh summer tomatoes.

Prep Time15

Cook Time45

Total Time1

Course: Pasta

Cuisine: Unspecified

Servings:

Calories: 761kcal

Place the celery, carrot, onion, and garlic in your food processor and blitz until finely chopped. Or finely chop these vegetables by hand.
1 stalk celery, 1 carrot, ½ onion, 2 cloves garlic
In a large lidded saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat.
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
Add the vegetables and cook them until softened, about 5 to 7 minutes.
Add the canned tomatoes and any tomato juice in the can to the saucepan. Remove any basil leaves that might have been with the canned tomatoes.
28 ounces canned whole tomatoes
Stir in the salt, pepper, thyme or oregano, and red pepper flakes. Cover and cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally and mashing the tomatoes to break them up. (This is the point where I start to heat the pot of water for the pasta and cook the cherry tomatoes.)
1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon ground black pepper, ½ teaspoon dried oregano or dried thyme or combo of the two, ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
When most of the tomatoes have broken down into small pieces, stir in the sugar. Taste the sauce and add more salt and pepper as desired.
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
Turn the heat down to a low simmer and add the cream.
½ cup heavy cream

Add the olive oil to a frying pan large enough to hold the tomatoes and heat over medium heat.
1 teaspoon olive oil
Add the tomatoes, garlic, salt, and pepper and cook until the tomatoes have just started to wilt and release some juice.
2 pints cherry tomatoes, halved, 2 cloves garlic, minced, ½ teaspoon salt, ⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper

Cook the pasta until al dente, drain, and then return to the pasta pot.
1 pound short pasta of choice
Add the pink pasta sauce and cook over low heat for one to two minutes, stirring the pasta and sauce together.
Ladle the pasta into bowls and top with the cherry tomatoes. Garnish with the chopped parsley or basil and top with Parmesan. Serve immediately.
¼ cup Italian parsley or basil, chopped, 1 ounce (or more) grated Parmesan, to top

This recipe will serve 4 as a main course or 8 as a side dish.