Naked Tomato Sauce

Today's post will be different from any that I have done in the past. It won't have a recipe, it won't have a picture and it won't scream "look at what I just cooked"!  Today is a link to one of the most lovely cooking blogs that I have had the honor to follow.   This blog is called smitten kitchen.  It is written by New Yorker Deb Perelman.  Not only is she a delightful writer, who doesn't take her self to seriously, but a fantastic food photographer, wife and fine cook. She describes "[t]he smitten kitchen in its latest physical incarnation as a 80 42 square foot (whimper) circa-1935 sort of half-galley kitchen with a 24 foot footprint, a single counter, tiny stove, checkered floor and a skylight on top a noisy window at the end to the avenue below. When you check out her food you have to be amazed and awed that she can produce what she does in 42 square feet while most of us have monstrous kitchens and can't cook a thing.

Several days ago I received my weekly email from smitten kitchen announcing Deb's latest creation. The blog for the day was for naked tomato sauce.  In her continuous effort to make the best "gravy" for spaghetti she adapts a recipe from a New York City restaurant called Scarpetta. In this post she describes Scarpetta as a restaurant "...that boasts duck and foie gras ravioli, olive oil braised octopus and innumerable four star reviews, it should say something that the spaghetti with tomato and basil is the most famed dish on the menu."

Having never been to Scarpetta I can't say if Deb really nailed their spaghetti with tomato and basil. What I can say is that she has given all of us one of the most delightful, sexy, creamy, and sweet ways to eat spaghetti that I have ever had in my life.

Make this, make this, make this....  It requires no special equipment and a small list of ingredients. When she says the butter is optional I believe she lies.  Here is the link: http://smittenkitchen.com/2011/08/naked-tomato-sauce/#more-7755  You can thank me later.

Life is good - enjoy!