Pasta Napoletana

Name: Pasta Napoletana
Cook time: 25 min
Ingredients: 2 tbsp olive oil; 1 brown onion, finely chopped; 3 cloves garlic, crushed; 28 oz Mutti® Crushed Tomatoes with Basil (Polpa) (or 28 oz Mutti® Crushed Tomatoes (Polpa), plus 3/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh basil and 1 1/2 tsp Italian dried herbs); ground black pepper; 17 oz penne pasta; Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (shaved, to serve); leaves fresh basil (to serve)

Pasta Napoletana is a simple and flavorful Italian recipe, which never lets you down. The rich tomato-based pasta gets its name from the classic Napoletana tomato sauce.

Made with Crushed Tomatoes with Basil

Mutti® Crushed Tomatoes (Polpa) with Basil starts with sun-ripened 100% Italian tomatoes from the Emilia Romagna region. Picked when perfectly ripe, cold crushed, and processed with our patented technique to capture the flavor of just-harvested tomatoes. To this we add fragrant Italian basil and a pinch of Mediterranean sea salt. Excellent for a fast tomato sauce, gazpacho, or even a Mutti® Mary.

cooking sketch 25 min (COOK TIME: 25 min)

cooking sketch Easy

Vegetarian

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil
1 brown onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
28 oz Mutti® Crushed Tomatoes with Basil (Polpa) (or 28 oz Mutti® Crushed Tomatoes (Polpa), plus 3/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh basil and 1 1/2 tsp Italian dried herbs)
ground black pepper
17 oz penne pasta
Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (shaved, to serve)
leaves fresh basil (to serve)

Did you know?

Pasta Napoletana is named after its exquisite tomato-based sauce, also known as Neapolitan sauce, Napoletana sauce, or Napoli sauce.

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Method

Heat oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add onion and cook for 8 minutes or until soft, stirring occasionally. Add garlic and cook, stirring for 2 minutes longer. Add Mutti® Crushed Tomatoes with Basil (Polpa), pepper and stir to combine. Simmer 10 minutes or until thickened, stirring occasionally.
While sauce is simmering, cook pasta as directed on packet.
Serve sauce over pasta and top with Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and fresh basil leaves.

Quick and delicious, Spaghetti, With friends, Family, Vegetarian, Italian food, Main course, Pasta

PASTA NAPOLETANA AND ITS TOMATO-BASED NEAPOLITAN SAUCE

The Pasta Napoletana recipe derives from Italian cuisine for its classic tomato-based Napoletana sauce. The main ingredient of Napoletana sauce is the tomato, which automatically gives the simple sauce a rich flavor. In addition to the tomato, the sauce is generally spiced up with garlic, onion, and herbs, such as basil, bay leaf, thyme, oregano, cloves, and black pepper, to give the sauce some extra flavor. Nonetheless, the sauce comes in various versions depending naturally on individual taste preferences, and therefore the sauce may include everything from olives and mushrooms to carrots and celery. The sauce is primarily vegetarian, however, it can also be modified to include meat, such as minced beef or sausage. In Italy, the meat-based Napoletana sauce is typically known as Neapolitan ragu. In any case, Napoletana sauce is commonly served with pasta or occasionally with spaghetti, known as Neapolitan spaghetti.

Interestingly enough, although the term Napoletana sauce is used collectively outside of Italy for tomato sauces, many Italians are not familiar with the name itself. Particularly in Naples, Neapolitan sauce is referred to as ‘la salsa’, which simply translates to ‘the sauce’.

PASTA NAPOLETANA RELIES ON THE QUALITY OF THE TOMATO

As tomatoes are the primary ingredient for Pasta Napoletana, it is especially important to prepare the Italian recipe with high-quality tomatoes. By using Mutti® Crushed Tomatoes (Polpa), you can effortlessly prepare a Napoletana sauce that guarantees a sweet flavor of freshly picked tomatoes without having to prepare the sauce from scratch. The tomatoes in Mutti® Polpa are picked when perfectly ripe from the Emilia Romagna region in Italy, after which they are cold crushed and processed with our patented technique to capture the rich and fresh flavor of just-harvested tomatoes. Mutti®Polpa is therefore ideal for a simple and appealing Pasta Napoletana.