Pasta alla Napoletana

By John, 8 March, 2025
Region
Italy
Description

"Paccheri alla Napoletana"Here's a simple and very classic dish from Naples. There are very few ingredients, so quality is of top importance. I call here for top quality canned tomatoes: that's because the best brands have a reputation to maintain, the tomatoes are ripe when they are canned, so they are far better than "fresh" supermarket tomatoes in January in New England. Of course if you can get farm-fresh tomatoes in August and September, by all means use them! But the rest of the time you will probably be happier with canned tomatoes from an excellent producer. The onion, cheese, and basil must also be of good quality, and that's about all there is to this sauce.

Of course it's best served on high-quality pasta, too, which means for a Neapolitan recipes you want Pasta di Gragnano if you can get it.

Ingredients
4 T Olive oil
1 Large Vidalia Onions
28 oz Chopped Tomatoes (one large can, top quality)
1 lb Pasta di Gragnano (See notes)
1⁄2 c Fresh grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
4 sprig of fresh basil (some chopped, a few pretty little ones whole)
Instructions
  1. Finely slice the onion and gently cook it in a frying pan with extra virgin olive oil.
  2. Add the tomatoes and season with a pinch of salt, black pepper if desired. If the tomatoes are acid, you can add a pinch of sugar.
  3. Cook gently for 15 minutes, then take off the heat, add the chopped basil leaves and set aside.
  4. Boil the pasta in plenty of boiling salted water. For classic Campanian styles, see the Notes.
  5. Drain the pasta al dente and toss it in the pan with the tomato sauce.
  6. Add a little of the cooking water, sprinkle with grated Parmigiano Reggiano, garnish with the reserved pretty basil leaves, and serve hot.
Notes

Neapolitan recipes call for red onion, but they are referring to the sweet Red Onions of Tropea, down on the coast near the Strait of Messina, in Calabria. Those are indeed remarkable onions that you can bite into raw! Our red onions are more pungent. I make this with Vidalia onion if I can get it, or else with yellow onion cooked a little longer to bring our its sweetness.

Classic Campanian pasta shapes that go with this sauce include paccheri (shown), scialatelli, creste di galli, maccheroncelli or perciatelli, and ziti. PGI-protected Pasta di Gragnano comes from the town of Gragnano on the Sorrentino peninsula. Garodalo is one brand available in the USA.