Ziti Pasta with Oven-Roasted Tomato Sauce, Prosciutto, Black Olives, and Hot Chile
This pasta is tossed with a deeply flavorful sauce that’s made from just a few common Italian ingredients. It shows how just a few ingredients in combination can transform an ordinary pasta into something special.
The first step in this dish is to make oven-roasted tomato sauce. This in itself is a delicious pasta sauce. The idea is simple: chop up a bunch of plum tomatoes, season and toss with olive oil, and blast in the oven; then add garlic and herbs and roast a little longer.
The roasted tomato sauce alone is an excellent sauce for short pasta like ziti and penne. This recipe, however, adds three flavorful ingredients to really create a deep mix of flavors: salty cured prosciutto di Parma, briny black olives, and spicy chile pepper. The result is a delicious, unique, fresh sauce for an Italian summer pasta.
Heat & Knives
The Recipe
Source: Pasta Improvvisata : How to Improvise in Classic Italian Style
Ziti with Oven-Roasted Tomato Sauce, Prosciutto, Black Olives, and Hot Chile
1 recipe Oven-Roasted Tomato Sauce [see below]
3 or 4 thin slices prosciutto, trimmed of some fat, cut in small pieces
a large handful of black olives, pitted and cut in half (I use Gaeta here)
1 fresh red or green chile, seeded and very finely minced (taste a bit of the flesh to see how hot it is; you may want to add only a tiny amount)
1 pound ziti
Make the tomato sauce and, while it is still warm, mix in the prosciutto, olives, and chile.
Cook the ziti until al dente, drain, and toss with the sauce.
Oven-Roasted Tomato Sauce
about 15 plum tomatoes (2 to 2 ½ pounds), coarsely chopped
salt
freshly ground black pepper
a few tablespoons olive oil
2 or 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
a small handful of flat-leaf parsley leaves, coarsely chopped
a small handful of fresh basil leaves, coarsely chopped
Preheat the oven to 500 F.
Place the chopped tomatoes on a baking sheet. They shouldn’t be too crowded, so if you think it is necessary, use 2 baking sheets. Sprinkle the tomatoes with salt and pepper and drizzle liberally with olive oil. Mix the tomatoes with your hands until they are well coated with oil. Distribute them evenly in one layer on the baking sheet. Roast about 10 minutes, stirring the tomatoes once or twice so they cook evenly. Sprinkle the garlic and the herbs on top of the tomatoes and mix briefly. Roast another 5 to 10 minutes. The tomatoes should be slightly browned around the edges of the pan but still moist. Transfer the tomatoes to a bowl, and while still hot, break them up a bit with a fork, saving all the juices.
