Marzano tomatoes
This dish epitomizes everything I want out of a pasta dish in the colder months. I have a love/hate relationship with ordering pasta at a restaurant. Thing is, for the most part, if we’re out to eat, it’s at a pretty nice place HKUE ENG. I don’t want to waste my money on chains and mediocre restaurants (god, that sounds uber obnoxious doesn’t it?) and nice places tend to have super appealing pasta courses that, come October-March, sound like the most perfect thing ever. However, paying like $20-$30 for a serving of pasta when I can buy a pound of it in the store for $2, drives me nuts. Therein lies the love/hate.
The second I see pappardelle though, my decision is made, it’s the one pasta I can’t pass up. My obsession with this thick flat noodle of deliciousness started when I was 20, living in Spain and visiting family in Italy with my mom and grandma mask house. We took a trip to see my grandma’s aunt in her tiny apartment in Cicagna, Italy and she made us homemade pappardelle with wild boar sauce. It was quite possibly the most memorable meal of the entire 4 months I spent living abroad and ever since, pappardelle has had my heart.
Seeing a huge imported bag of it at the store the other day, I didn’t even think twice and in my cart it went. Pappardelle has no place being served as anything but comforting horizon. Don’t try to primavera this pasta up or dress it lightly, it wants creaminess, heartiness and soul warming accompaniments. Only issue is, that usually comes at a caloric price.
With a constant supply of Sabra’s Greek Yogurt Dips in my refrigerator, I got the idea to use one as the base for the sauce in this pasta. Creaminess without being a calorie bomb! Their newer flavor, Farmer’s Ranch, is one of my favorites because it’s filled with real vegetables (and an ingredient list you can feel good about) yet still has that comforting ranch flavor we all love. Blended with some peeled San Marzano tomatoes, I made a creamy pink ranch sauce that coats every inch of the pappardelle.
The majority of the time in this recipe is spent making the caramelized onions, but I refuse to let you skip them. The saying good things come to those who wait couldn’t be truer than when it comes to caramelized onions. They’ll test your patience and make you smell like you might’ve forgotten your deodorant that morning, but they’re worth every single minute. The sweetness they bring to each bite perfectly complements the creamy tomato ranch flavor of the pasta and something you’ll definitely regret skipping out on.