Salvation on Thursday Night / Pasta and APOP

Thursdays are a such a beating.

I'm tired.  I've spent four days fighting the good fight (which is what we small business owners do).  Jousting with difficult clients, difficult employees, incompetent vendors amid a stream of never-ending interruptions - I'm exhausted. Late nights and early mornings only compound my state.

I live in Colorado and on this late Thursday in May, mother nature has given us a persistent cold rain.  My lawn and flowers are quite content.  Me? Far less so.  Add a good chill to my malaise.  To make my situation a complete tragicomedy, I've just gone back to crossfit.  I can barely move. Fat old guys shouldn't go to crossfit.  Deep down, I know this.  My thighs cry out with protest as I hobble to the fridge.  I lift my right hand to the refrigerator door (supporting it by my trembling left hand) only to take my exhausted, cold, tired, depressed and aching body to a new low.  After prying open what must be a one ton refrigerator door, I find that my stash left from Sunday's culinary endeavors are now all gone. Curse you, Wednesday! There is no braised pork chop in buttermilk gravy.  Nary a drop of grilled salmon in a maple-soy glaze.  And the primavera? Not a chance. Nada. Not. Nil. Nein. Nicht.  I am shutout.

Dejected, I turn to the cupboard. In my current state, it's a 3 minute walk.  Nearly 15 feet. I rummage past the tuna, the broth, and the tortilla chips with little but despair in my heart.  Wait.  What is that? And there calling out to me like the Holy Grail of canned goods, I see it.  There before my eyes, I see a 15 oz can of diced tomatoes.  It's going to be ok. I'm going to make it. For I know that this one of the five key ingredients I need to turn my night around.  And the remaining four are always on hand.

I grab a box of penne pasta.  Now moving more fluidly, I grab garlic and crushed red pepper flakes. Olive oil is already by the stove.  After putting on a pot of water, spirits lifted, I put on a little music. I think my Sinatra playlist will do nicely.  And as "That's Life" comes on, I smile.  Tomorrow is Friday. There's good stuff on the DVR.  I pour a glass of red.  And I get to work.

I realize that many of you still live with jars of store-bought tomato sauce.  Today, we'll fix that.  Today, I give you my simplest recipe and yet one of my favorite comfort foods.  Try this.  I'm begging you.  You'll never procure another jar of ho-hum tomato sauce again.  Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the house pasta sauce; aglio,  pomodoro, olio e pepperoncino (APOP).

Heat the oil, red pepper flakes and chopped garlic together for just a minute until the oil is fragrant.  Add the can of tomatoes.  Let it simmer for five minutes.  Done.  Toss the pasta into the pan and coat.  Maybe top with a little freshly grated Parmigiana Reggiano?  Serve.  Crazy fast.  Crazy good.

Oh, and please - get yourself a chunk of Parmigiana Reggiano and keep it in the fridge, just for nights like this.  You can do a hundred things with it and it keeps well for weeks.  We'll take about parmesan chips at a later date... for tonight we're talking about sauce.

Can you use fresh tomatoes in the summer?  Of course.  Add basil?  Absolutely.  A touch of white wine?  Yup.  I used this base sauce for an tapas meatball dish a few weeks ago, but added beef broth and let it cook down for an hour.  It was fabulous.  But this basic sauce is the very core of greatness. Add some crusty bread and a nice glass of red wine and as I sit down with my piping hot bowl of life, it dawns on me...  Hey - tomorrow is Friday!  The weekend is upon us!  Farmer's market on Saturday! And perhaps my thighs will unlock by Sunday!  It's going to be ok!

APOP Recipe

Ingredients
2 ounces nice extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp crushed red pepper
2 tsp minced garlic
1 can (15 oz) diced tomatoes (good quality please!)
1 lb pasta of choice, but I like penne with this recipe
2 TBS butter
Parmigiana Reggiano
salt to taste

Directions
While the pasta is cooking in salted water, warm the oil with the garlic and red pepper flakes together in a sauté pan over medium heat.  The key to this recipe is to not burn the garlic.  Brown is bad people.  Tan is even bad.  Slightly off-white is good.  Have the tomatoes ready so that you can toss them in the pan and arrest the garlic's frying before good goes to oh crap.  Let it simmer and slightly reduce for about 5 minutes.  Season to taste with salt.

Drain the pasta and toss with a little butter.  Add the pasta to the sauté pan and toss to coat.  Shave (use your vegetable peeler) or grate a little parmesan over the top and you are good to go.

Next time you decide... more garlic? Less? More red pepper?  Make notes and tweak to your taste.

As for jars of bland sauce? You'll never look back. Trust me.