Pasta with Raw Sauce
( Pasta alla Carrettiera - Pasta cu Pumaroru Cruru )
This sauce was a specialty that when prepared by my brother-in-law, Giovanni Zenone, it tasted incomparable exquisite. Giovanni was the owner of La Focacceria on 13th Avenue in Brooklyn, NY, and he called this sauce “alla bagheriota”. Bagheria is a town a few miles outside Palermo, where Giovanni was born. I made this sauce at Joe’s of Avenue U, in Brooklyn, NY, and when my customers asked for the recipe, they would not believe I was giving the accurate recipe, because the recipe has very few ingredients and requires little skill to make.
But -as Giovanni would brag- the secret to making this pasta dish was in having good ingredients at the right temperature and in the timing putting this dish together; in fact, even though I never acknowledged this to Giovanni, I must admit that he was accurate and if you follow his directions as I did for over 40 years, you will make this dish that tastes delicious whether it’s served hot or cold, buffet style, at your next party for the enjoyment of your guests.
- Serving Size4
- Meatless PastaPasta alla Carrettiera
Ingredients
- 1 lb. pasta, bowtie pasta is preferred
- 1 can of 28 oz. Italian peeled tomato, cut into small pieces, mix in its own juice
- ¼ lb. grated pecorino cheese
- ¼ lb. diced pecorino cheese
- 2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
- 25 chopped basil leaves
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- pinch of oregano
- crushed red pepper to taste
- salt and pepper
- basil leaves to garnish
Instructions
THE SAUCE
In a large bowl mix the garlic with a few drops of olive oil and with a spoon pound the garlic and oil. Add the tomatoes, chopped basil, the remaining oil, oregano, pepper and the crushed red pepper to taste. Mix well and taste for salt. Set aside for a few hours to allow the ingredients to blend into a singular flavor. Do not refrigerate.
THE PASTA
Bring to a boil 5 quarts of water with 2 tablespoon of salt, cook pasta al dente, following the package’s direction. At the same time, in a large sauté pan warm up the sauce and when pasta is cooked al dente, the sauce should be just right. Drain pasta and reserve some of the water.
THE ASSEMBLY
Add pasta to the pan with the sauce; toss over a high flame until pasta and sauce are well combined. If it gets too dry, add some of the reserved water. Remove from the heat, add all the diced cheese and half of the grated cheese and serve immediately. Sprinkle each dish with the remaining cheese and garnish with basil.
THE PASTA FOR YOUR PARTY
To serve cold Pasta alla Carrettiera, do not heat the sauce. Cook pasta as per directions. Drain and pour it in the bowl with the raw sauce. Add diced cheese and half of grated cheese. Toss gently and add some reserved water if needed. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and garnish with basil.
NOTE:
If using fresh wine ripened tomatoes, 2 lb. are needed. Wash the tomatoes and plunge them into boiling water for a minute. When you are able to handle them, remove the skin, cut them in half and eliminate as much of the seeds as possible then cut into small pieces and follow above directions.