Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce

Warning: Although I enjoy cooking, I am still learning and make a lot of mistakes.  So don't judge my cooking skills. Thank you.

I am obsessed with Pioneer Woman.  I record her episodes on Food Network, bought her cookbook, and am willing to try any recipe of her's.  I'm trying to cook my way through her cookbook and found tonight to be a perfect opportunity to try one of her simpler dishes (since I was only cooking for myself and see no point in making something elaborate and time consuming when I am the only one that will enjoy it).  So tonight's dinner was

Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce

Here's how I made it...

I started out by making a mess of the kitchen and getting all of the ingredients out.  To make this pasta you'll need

6 oz fettuccine pasta

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp butter

half of an onion, diced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

15 oz can of tomato sauce

salt and pepper

a dash of sugar

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

chopped basil for garnish

This is Pioneer Woman's recipe cut in half.  Her recipes usually make enough food to feed an army so I traditionally half them.  I did a few other alterations to her recipe including:

2 tbsp of butter instead of 1.

 (Partially because I love butter, but actually because that was how much butter was left in the fridge and I didn't feel like cutting it.  Lazy, I know.) 

1/2 cup of cheese instead of 1/4 cup

And if I could go back I would use 1/4 of an onion instead of 1/2.  Although I am a self proclaimed onion lover, this recipe had way too much onion in it. Even for me!

To start, cook your pasta according to the directions on the package (or do what I do and taste-test the pasta every couple minutes). 

Heat the olive oil and butter in a skillet and add the garlic and onions.  Saute until the onions are translucent. And when you think it is finished, cook it a little longer (my onions turned out a little crunchy and it would have tasted much better if they were soft).

  

Add the tomato sauce, salt, pepper, and sugar. 

 

Once everything is stirred around add the heavy cream.

I love the way it looks when you first add the cream.

 Stir until the sauce becomes a beautiful orange color.

Now you get to add your pasta and stir until it becomes a delicious gooey mess. 
If you want to be fancy and have fresh basil on hand, add it now.  I just sprinkled on some extra Parmesan cheese and devoured it with a side of steamed broccoli (to make me feel better about the amount of carbs I was about to consume).

Delicious. Easy. Fast.  What's not to love!

Find Pioneer Woman's original recipe here.