Fra Diavolo Sauce

While out for dinner, Kent enjoyed a Fra Diavolo shrimp dish at a restaurant and decided to create his own version. So he took a basic tomato sauce recipe we love (created by Oyster Evangelist) and tweaked it to come up with his own version.

When I made this the other night, I had some chicken sage sausage on hand so I diced that up and sautéed it and added it in. The sauce is equally good with no meat—it’s got lots of flavor all by itself. Cut down the red pepper flakes and the cayenne if you don’t like things hot.

Ingredients:

4 T (1/2 stick) butter
1 small onion, minced (1 cup)
2 t red pepper flakes
1 t cayenne powder
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 C water
2 cloves garlic, put through a press
1 32-ounce can crushed tomatoes and their juices

Directions:

• In a large heavy pan, melt the butter.
• Add the onion, red pepper flakes, cayenne powder and oregano, and cook, stirring frequently, until the onions are soft, about 10 minutes.
• Add the tomato paste and cook a few minutes until it begins to stick to the bottom of the pan. 
• Stir in 1/2 cup of water, scraping the bottom of the pan to pick up any cooked-on bits. 
• Add the tomatoes and the garlic.
• Simmer for 30 minutes.
• Put on your favorite pasta.