A few nights ago I was trolling around the kitchen looking for something that would make a quick, easy dinner. I was halfway to having Weetbix for dinner when I noticed an open can of tomato sauce on the counter with only a tablespoon or so missing, having been used for a barbeque marinade earlier. After ascertaining that the sauce hadn’t been sitting on the counter since Y2K, I decided that a simple rose sauce served over pasta sounded like a great idea.
This sauce is really easy. The most difficult part is mincing the garlic, and I skipped that part by using a twisty garlic mincing thingy. Then all that’s left is a bit of stirring and tasting. C’est bon!
Simple 7-Minute Rose Sauce
1 (400mL) can tomato sauce (unsweetened and un-spiced; basically just pureed tomatoes)
1 tbsp butter
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp dried thyme, leaves or ground
¼ tsp black pepper
1/3 cup heavy cream (33%+ milk fat)
1/3 cup grated Parmigianno Reggiano cheese
2 tsp white sugar (or to taste)Melt the butter over medium heat in a sauce pot. Add the garlic and cook for about 2 minutes. Don’t let the garlic brown or the sauce will be bitter—you’re just cooking the garlic through to remove the raw bite of it and infuse the butter with garlicky goodness. Add the thyme and black pepper and stir.
Grate the cheese—I recommend using a Microplane zester to get super thin, tiny flakes of cheese that will melt into your sauce in an instant.
Add the tomato sauce and heavy cream. Heat through, and then add the cheese. Stir to combine. Taste and add sugar and salt as needed.
Serve over whole grain pasta with steamed veggies!
I really want to try this! It seems like something that would be simple enough for me and my fried college student brain to plan and to make. 🙂 What would you suggest for dorm room kitchen essentials if the “kitchen” is actually only a microwave, fridge and possibly a crock pot, with occasional trips to a real kitchen?
Hmmm… a challenge! I would bet you could cook the garlic in the butter in the crock pot (or melt the butter in the microwave and then pour it over the minced garlic to cook it a bit), and then add the tomatoes and all the herbs and cream. You could heat that through in either the microwave (low heat over a longer period of time) or the crock pot, and that should work fairly well! Just be careful not to torch the garlic, so go slowly. And you should be able to cook the pasta in a glass dish in the microwave.
For your dorm… are you talking equipment or ingredients? For equipment I’d definitely add a kettle (I’ve used those in very creative ways in hotel rooms). For ingredients: basic herbs and spices (salt, pepper, thyme, smoked paprika, basil, cumin, garam masala, coriander, and garlic, in my opinion); high flavor condiments (pesto, sriracha); dried fruit & veg (mangoes, apricots, tomatoes, etc.), and lots of easily whipped-up canned goods (like tomatoes, artichokes, fish [if that’s your thing], etc.)
Hope that helps! Thanks for reading 🙂
Thanks so much! I’ve recently become pescetarian/vegetarian (depending on my iron levels, sadly) and between that and deciding to cook more next year your blog has been a big help!
I’m thrilled to hear it, Lisa! It’s too bad your iron levels are causing you problems—especially since iron supplements are just awful! You can count on me for lots of tasty veggie recipes, I’m just closing in on 3 years of veggie-ism 🙂
Careful with becoming too pescetarian. The fish stocks of the world have been poisoned by the industrial complex. There are many web sites out there that warn about mercury and other toxins in the fish we eat. If fish are something that is eaten rarely then this should not matter too much. If you are eating them every day then these toxins will build up in your body and cause you all sorts of health issues.
I agree with you, John—it’s never too good to have too much of any one thing, and with the majority of the fish we eat being top-of-the-food chain varieties, they tend to be the most concentrated in toxins. I have a friend who had to cut out fish and go on a mercury detox from eating too much, so this is definitely serious business.
So I jus had a sudden cravin for pasta with rose sauce (I’m preggo!) and decided to Google a quick easy recipe. This seemed easy enough and I had all the ingredients (with a few substitutes) and whipped it up. It is so delicious!! I added a few of my own herbs and spices of my own just because. I must say I am quite pleased and will be making this more often!
Fantastic! I’m glad you liked it 🙂 And congrats on the wee one!
This is awesomeness: one of my absolute favourite recipes. It has everything I need to get a meal on the table in under 15 minutes. Thank you.
Fantastic, I’m thrilled to hear it, Dauphine 🙂 Thanks so much for reading!
Howdy, this is just the best quick rose sauce. My kids love love love it. We not veggies so we have it over chicken sometimes but usually add some vegetables into the mix over some pasta and it’s gobbled up.
This is the recipe that bought me to your site in the first – a place I go to for inspiration for a lot of things!
Thanks, loving it! 🙂
A little Aussie pal x
Awesome! Thanks so much, Mel 🙂 I find it funny that this was such a quick entry for me, and so long ago, and yet it seems to be rather popular 😛 I also make a thinner version of this sauce for tomato soap, and it’s delicious 🙂
Thanks so much for reading, and enjoy that beautiful Aussie sun 🙂 I lived in Penrith for a while and fell in love with your wonderful country. Sigh.
I made this with Italian stewed tomatoes, and I used some dried minced garlic and a little garlic powder since I didn’t have any fresh on hand, finally subbed in cream cheese because it was on hand. SO GOOD! so really if anyone wants to try a good recipe this one can withstand substitutions and still turn out great. I used some big rigotoni. Thanks, I’m going to save and share this recipe 🙂
-Megan
Fantastic! I love how this little sauce recipe is so flexible & quick to pull together, too 🙂
Trying this now, I could not find any heavy cream at the store, all I could see are whipping and coffee creams. But I found the Philadelphia Herb & Garlic cooking creme and will use that instead.
Unwhipped whipping cream is the same thing as heavy cream—you basically just want something that’s around 33–36% milk fat 🙂 Just for next time 😉 Your herb & garlic swap sounds delicious, though!
Parmesan is so difficult to melt but I live in The Bahamas and choices are limited and I don’t want to ruin the recipe. Any tips?
Also, do you recommend thickening the sauce with say corn starch?
Hi Paul! If you are using a real parmesan that comes in a hard block (rather than a shaker bottle), it should melt very easily when finely shredded. And no, don’t bother thickening the sauce with corn starch—just simmer it down to the consistency you like 🙂
Thanks for this healthy recipe! It really helped me in a pinch this evening 🙂 I will take a peek around your website for more ideas! 🙂 Glad I stumbled upon you thanks to google!
Happy to help! Thanks for reading 🙂
This looks and sounds delicious, but I’m a bit disappointed there’s no rose’ in it. Or any wine. I suppose I could add some, or just drink some while making or eating it!
You certainly can use some! Part of the easy bit for me is not requiring wine since I’m much more of a beer drinker and rarely have wine on hand 😉
“Twisty garlic mincing thingy.” Hahaha, this is the very first articles I’ve read by you, and I love you already.
Thanks, Christa! Happy reading and happy making 🙂