Angel Hair Pomodoro: What President Joe Biden loves eating every day!

President Biden is winning the hearts of many American citizens these days. We wanted to find out what food wins President Biden's heart? The answer was very easy to find - all we had to do was ask Former President Barack Obama!

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As he has famously quoted, “You all think I’m kidding, I’m not. I eat more ice cream than the three other people you’d like to be with. All at once.” It's no secret that President Biden loves ice cream. But we wanted to dig deeper and find his favorite savory food. It is also well known that the President Biden loves eating pasta with red sauce. Once we had that information, it was not difficult to find that his favorite pasta dish is Angel Hair Pomodoro - which, apparently, he ordered a lot while on his 2020 campaign tour!

Angel Hair Pomodoro might just be President Joe Biden's all time favorite dish too. Because, we found out that he orders Capellini Ann Hand at his favorite Georgetown restaurant, Cafe Milano. While the recipe at Cafe Milano is a well-guarded secret, the traditional Pomodoro recipe is not. That is what we are making in this blog today!

Which tomatoes to use for Pomodoro?

The secret to a good pomodoro sauce is the quality tomatoes. The more you simmer the sauce, the better it will taste. Ideally, pomodoro is made with corbarino tomatoes. These are exceptionally rare and are only grown in Monti Lattari area of Campania.

We were not able to source these in the US.

So, we decided to go for Isola brand of canned tomatoes, sourced from Southern Italy. I suggest using peeled and whole tomatoes since this sauce is cooked slowly, so whole tomatoes will disintegrate better.

These are the tomatoes we used, available on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3fKnwi5

Also available on iGourmet: https://igourmet.com/products/peeled-tomatoes-28-oz

Pomodoro sauce is a very simple classic Italian tomato-based sauce recipe consisting of few ingredients. Pomodoro literally translates from Italian to English as, “tomato.” This is as basic a sauce as you can get, and it comes together in about 45 minutes.

Wondering what is the difference between Pomodoro and Marinara? Check out these Notes.

Ingredients for 2 servings of Angel Hair Pomodoro:

1. Canned whole & peeled tomatoes: 800 gm

2. Garlic, crushed: 2 cloves

3. Salt, 2 tsp

4. Sugar, 1 tsp

5. Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 1/2 cup

6. Fresh Basil, hand torn, 7-10 sprigs

7. Angel Hair pasta, dried: for 2 people, about half a packet.

8. Parmesan, shaved: garnish

Directions:

1. Pop open the can and transfer to a sauce pot. Make sure you are using a heavy bottom pot, this sauce will cook covered for a good 30 minutes.

2. Add in the crushed garlic, salt, and sugar. Rinse the can with the smallest amount of water and add that in as well.

3. Let this cook on low flame for about 30 minutes.

4. In about 30 minutes, your sauce will have disintegrated a lot. If there are still chunks of tomatoes left, mash them with the back of a spoon.

5. Check for seasoning and adjust the salt if needed. Add in the Extra Virgin Olive Oil and freshly torn basil. Mix it all up; let simmer on low flame for another 10 minutes.

6. Cook the pasta in heavily salted water. If you are using dried, store bought, don't cook for more than 4 minutes.

7. Drain the pasta. Mix with the sauce, or serve the sauce on top - whichever way you want to plate.

8. Add shaved Parmesan on top and serve hot!

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Notes:

1. Difference Between Pomodoro Sauce Vs Marinara: The biggest difference between Pomodoro sauce and marinara is the thickness. While marinara is chunkier, it also a little runnier. Pomodoro sauce is completely smooth but thicker in nature because it cooks down over time. In addition to those, the ingredients can vary as well. Marinara has a few more things in it such as oregano and occasionally red pepper flakes.

2. You can add red chili flakes to this sauce: Pomodoro sauce is not traditionally spicy; However, I have seen recipes where people finish with red pepper flakes. Food should always be customizable as per the eater's taste and liking. Feel free to add crushed red chili flakes if you like your pasta hot.

3. Storing and Freezing: Store the Pomodoro sauce chilled and covered in the refrigerator for up to 7 days. It freezes well and will hold in the freezer covered for up to 3 months. It will take a full day to thaw so be sure to set aside enough time if wanting to use it.

Thanks for reading! You can PIN this image to come back to it later! :)