Precocious Pasta

I'm so glad Jen's back! Her recipes and pointers are always a fun read and leave me inspired to do things prettier, fancier and better.

The husband has been craving my homemade pasta sauce lately, so I'm going to cook it tonight. Before you roll your eyes and move on to another cooking site, WAIT! I swear, you don't have to be old, Italian and hairy to be able to make your own pasta sauce, and no, it's not going to take forever. I started making it when my brother came back from living in Italy for a year and couldn't believe I was using jar sauce. He showed me how to make it simply, easily and quickly, and I now pass it on to you:

Get out two saucepans. It's key to having your flavors and textures work. In one pan, swirl a little olive oil to coat and toss in:
About five or six ripe red tomatoes, chopped, salted and peppered.
Sautee on low to medium heat, stirring occasionally.

In the other pan, swirl a little olive oil to coat and toss in:
Three to five cloves of crushed garlic
Half a minced yellow onion
Eight to ten sliced crimini mushrooms (or not, if you're a weird mushroom-hater)
Anything else you like, such as olives or bell peppers

Sautee on medium heat for about ten minutes. Dump all of this goodness into the tomato mixture and cook on medium for about five more minutes, adding a little red wine if you'd like.

Spoon it over cooked and drained pasta, and top with asiago cheese and a basil chiffonade.

(Wanna know how to chiffonade like a pro? The word merely means "ribbons" and here's how you do it: Stack your basil leaves on top of each other, roll into a tight tube and slice. You'll have 'ribbons' of basil. Easy and pretty, just the way we like it!)