Penne with Tomato Cream Sauce | (not so) Healthy but Definitely a Hearty Meal

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To be completely honest with you (whoever read this), today’s post is not about my latest cooking experiment. I made this dish few days ago right after i made the yogurt which leave me with 400ml of leftover milk. I actually planned to cook penne  though. I bought the pasta along with the yogurt ingredients. 😛

Well, actually i don’t really cook penne as often as spaghetti or fettuccine. We do all agree that the most well known pasta in the world is spaghetti. Followed by macaroni and fettuccine, i guess. Those 3 are definitely on the top pasta list. Poor Penne did not make it to the list. 😀

Back to Penne. This cylinder shaped pen-like pasta has vertical grid texture on its surface. The texture is great at holding the sauce. I think creamy sauce will be perfect for penne pasta, right? So, let’s cut the crap and just get cooking!

PENNE WITH TOMATO CREAM SAUCE

Ingredients:

Main Ingredients:

• 200 gr of Penne.
• 250 ml of Full Cream UHT Milk (because cooking creams are too damn expensive here in Indonesia).
• 3 small sized Tomatoes (it’s regular tomato, not cherry tomato) cut into chunks.
• 1/2 small sized Onion. Sliced evenly.
• 3 cloves of Garlic. Crushed & Finely Chopped

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Seasonings:

• A handful of Grated Cheddar Cheese.
• 1 tsp of Salt (to taste).
• 1/2 tsp of White Pepper (to taste).
• A pinch of each Dried Oregano, Rosemary, Basil and Paprika Powder.
• 1 tbsp Edam Cheese. Freshly grated (again, because the Parmesan Cheese is too damn expensive in Indonesia. I like this Edam Cheese because it has pungent cheese flavor, great substitute for parmesan).

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Directions:

Cooking the pasta:

• Fill a large deep pan with water and place it over high heat.
• When the water starts to boil, add salt to taste. Make sure the salt has dissolved before you add in the pasta.
• Pour in the penne pasta into the hot boiling water. Put a wooden spatula over its surface to prevent the boiling water from overflowing.
• Stir frequently in the first minutes so the pasta won’t be sticking together. You can also add a lil bit of cooking oil into the pan, if you desire. Always check the pasta and give it stir occasionally every now and then during the whole cooking process.
• Before draining the pasta, taste it to see if it is cooked to your liking. If i’m not mistaken, i needed around 10 minutes to cook the pasta.
• I like my pasta al dente and i already did my research through books, blogs and videos about its definition. Some said the literal meaning of that term is ‘bites back’. When pasta is “al dente,” you should feel a slight resistance when you bite into it or cut it with fork. There should also be a thin white vein at the center. To sum things up, you need the pasta to be slightly undercooked…just barely not entirely (just in the thin middle part). But you are free to cook it however you want it.

Making The Sauce:

• While the pasta is cooking, you may start prepping the ingredients for the sauce.
• Crush the garlic with the heel of your hand and then chop it finely, put it aside.
•  Cut the onion in half, slice it evenly and put it aside. Wrap the other half remaining tightly with plastic wrap and keep it refrigerated.
• Cut the tomatoes into chunks. Just don’t cut it too big to save up cooking time.

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• Cut the sausage diagonally into your preferred size.

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• When the pasta is halfway cooked, you can start making the sauce. Put a butter in a skillet over medium heat.
• When the butter has melted, toss in the sliced onion and then saute it until translucent.
• Throw in the garlic into skillet, spread the chopped garlic evenly and let it cook for few second.
• Put the tomato chunks into skillet. Gently push them with the spatula to help them break apart faster. Continue the pushing and stirring until the onion, garlic and tomatoes slightly dissolve.

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• Add a pinch of each dried herbs, freshly ground pepper and paprika powder then mix it all together well.
• Keep stirring until the mixture is cooked. When you can smell that great aroma comes out, it’s the right time to put in the sausages and pour in the milk.
• Let the sauce to simmer. Check your pasta, it should be done by now. Drain your pasta in a colander and leave the water a lil bit (about a soup ladle).
• Toss in the pasta into the sauce and pour in the pasta water. The pasta water has a lot of starch in it. It can be used as thickening agent.
• Lastly, add the grated cheddar cheese into the skillet. Continue stirring until the sauce thickens (the cheese helps the pasta water acting as thickening agent).
• Because the pasta water and cheese are already salty, i think that should be enough salt for the dish. But you can add more salt if you are desired. 😉
• Turn off the heat and your penne is done.

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Scoop out the pasta into serving dish. You can garnish it with another pinch of each dried herbs and paprika powder. Sprinkle some freshly grated Edam Cheese on it. There you have a plateful of hearty meal. Enjoy! 🙂