15-30 min28-ounce can whole tomatoes packed in juice4 servings

Pasta with Easy Buttery Tomato Sauce

By Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough

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4 servings

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15-30 min

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Easy

Pasta with Easy Buttery Tomato Sauce
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Recipe Details

Course: Dinner, Main Dishes

Difficulty: Easy

Prep Time: 5 min

Cook Time: 25 min

Total Time: 15-30 min

Cooking Technique: Pressure Cook, Sauté

Cuisine: American, American

Diet: Vegetarian

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 28-ounce can whole tomatoes packed in juice
  • 3 cups vegetable broth
  • Up to 3 medium garlic cloves
  • 1 tsp table salt
  • 1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
  • 3/4 stick butter
  • 12 ox raw dried spaghetti
  • finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
Picture pure simplicity: a buttery, garlicky tomato sauce (without meat or herbs), coating tender spaghetti. An easy meal on its own, it would also be a great side dish to a grilled steak for a retro, steak-house meal. Use canned whole tomatoes, not diced. What’s more, you must hand-crush them into the pot. Doing so keeps the somewhat larger pieces intact under pressure, giving the dish a better texture.

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Pour the tomatoes and their juice into the insert set in a 5-, 6-, or 8-quart Instant Pot. Use your clean hands to crush the tomatoes into smaller bits. Get in there! You know you want to!
  2. Press Sauté and set it for Medium/Normal or Custom 300°F and set the time for 10 minutes.
  3. As the pot heats, stir in the broth, garlic, salt, and nutmeg. Add the butter. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the butter melts and the entire mixture gets steamy, on the edge of simmering, about 5 minutes.
  4. Turn off the heat and lay the broken spaghetti in a crosshatch pattern on the top of the sauce. Press down gently so some of the pasta is in the sauce but none of it touches the insert’s bottom. Lock the lid on the pot.
  5. MAX model: Set the pot for Pressure Cook on MAX pressure for 4 minutes.

    Other Instant Pot models: Set the pot for Pressure Cook/Manual on High pressure for 6 minutes.
  6. When the pot has finished cooking, use the quick-release method to bring the pressure back to normal. Unlatch the lid and open the cooker. Stir well, then set the lid askew over the pot and set aside for 2 to 3 minutes so the pasta continues to absorb some of the excess sauce. Serve warm, garnished with finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Notes

Other Pots
• For a 3-quart Instant Pot, you must halve all of the ingredient amounts and you must break the dried spaghetti into even smaller pieces to fit in the pot.
• For an 8-quart Instant Pot, you can increase all of the ingredient amounts by 50 percent.
• For a 10-quart Instant Pot, you must increase all of the ingredient amounts by 50 percent and you can even double the amounts. You do not need to break dried spaghetti for the large pot., Beyond
• Garnish the servings with stemmed and finely chopped fresh basil leaves along with the cheese.
• And/or a sprinkling of red pepper flakes.
• And/or a little aromatic olive oil, particularly a fine “finishing” olive oil used as a condiment rather than a cooking fat.

About the chef

Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough

Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough

In this duo, Bruce Weinstein is the chef and Mark Scarbrough, the writer. Together, they’ve published over 35 cookbooks, hit international best-seller lists, won national and international awards, and have been interviewed by the best, from Lester Holt to Barbara Walters. Weinstein also writes knitting books, designs patterns, and teaches knitting workshops. Besides writing their cookbooks, Scarbrough also teaches literature classes; has a podcast called Walking With Dante, where he takes you on journey from hell to paradise; and has written a memoir, BOOKMARKED: HOW THE GREAT WORKS OF WESTERN LITERATURE F*CKED UP MY LIFE.

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