Mestolando, where home cooked italian food happens.

Penne pasta with intense flavors.

This delicious sauce is an all time favorite around the house, it’s definitely one of the heavier tomato based sauces we cook. Olives, prosciutto ends and porcini mushrooms being the main flavors. Save some for the next days and it will get more intense as the ingredients mix.

Ingredients for 4

• 1 lb fresh tomatoes or 1 1/2 (14oz) cans of whole tomatoes
• 1 1/2 cups of sweet black olives
• 1 cup dried porcini mushrooms
• 3-4 round slices or 1/4 to 1/2 lb prosciutto ends
• 4 table spoons of extra virgin olive oil
• 500 gram bag of penne pasta or 125 grams per person (1/2oz per person)
• parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper for seasoning

how to prepare, taken from the video

Start by putting on a large pot of water to boil for the pasta, and another medium size pot of water to boil for taking the skins off the tomatoes later.

Now for the preparation of the ingredients.

First soak the dried porcini mushrooms in a bowl of hot water. Then cut up the prosciutto ends into small cube-like pieces. For the olives take out the pits and cut the olives up into small to medium size pieces.

Next it’s time to prepare the dried porcini mushrooms that have been soaking in warm water. Strain the water out with your hands then get some new water and add them back in, this helps get rid of any dirt that may be in them still. Mix them around a little with your hand in the water, then take them out again and strain them once more. Finally chop them up into small pieces.

Begin cooking the sauce by adding in 3-4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil to a large frying pan. Add in the porcini mushrooms, black olives and prosciutto ends. stir them around and turn heat to low and let them simmer.

While that’s simmering I start to take the skins off my fresh tomatoes by adding them to the boiling water one or two at a time then taking them out after a couple minutes when I see the skins are split across the surface of the tomato. Repeat this process until they’re all done. Next take out the stem cores with a pairing knife and then slice them up into small pieces. remember to check the contents of your frying pan and stir them around at least once while your taking the skins off the tomatoes.

Add the tomatoes to the frying pan, turn up the heat to medium and stir them around for 8-10 minutes or until the tomatoes are soft. When the tomatoes are soft turn down the heat and let simmer… while they’re simmering use a wooden spoon to crush any chunky tomato pieces that aren’t soft.

This is a good time to start cooking the penne pasta which usually takes about 10min, check the package for times. this is also a good time to season the sauce with salt and pepper, taste it to make sure.

Drain the penne pasta and mix it well with the sauce either in the frying pan or pot with a low heat. After a couple minutes serve it hot with some grated parmesan cheese.

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