Red Wine Tomato Cream Pasta (Chad’s Favorite)

This is one of those pastas I started making by throwing together things we usually have in the pantry and refrigerator: butter, shallot, garlic, cherry tomatoes, a little wine, a little cream and whatever cheese we have. The first time I made it, I meant to use white wine but didn’t have any, so I used red instead. It was a happy accident. It made the sauce a little deeper and richer, and now that’s the way I always make it.

Over time it turned into the pasta Chad always asks for, so now we just call it Chad’s favorite pasta. It feels a little special, but it’s very simple and comes together in about the time it takes to boil the pasta.

I usually make this with spaghetti, and I almost always use Giadzy spaghetti. It has a better texture, holds the sauce really well and is more filling, so you don’t need a huge bowl to feel like you had a real dinner.

I learned a lot about cooking pasta from watching Giada over the years. The most useful thing: salt the pasta water really well. She says it should taste like seawater, and that’s what seasons the pasta itself. She also adds pasta water to the sauce and lets the pasta finish cooking in it for a minute or two. I’ve done it that way ever since, and it’s what makes the sauce smooth and glossy so it actually coats the pasta.