Equipment
Ingredients
Aromatics and Base
- 30 ml extra virgin olive oil
- 4 garlic, thinly sliced
- 120 ml dry red wine
Tomato Sauce
- 800 g canned whole peeled plum tomatoes, crushed by hand
- 5 g kosher salt
- 2 g black pepper, freshly cracked
Pasta and Finishing
- 400 g dry rigatoni
- 60 g unsalted butter, cold and cubed
- 50 g parmigiano-reggiano, finely grated
- 10 g fresh basil, torn
Nutrition (per serving)
Nutrition is estimated per serving. Nutrients without complete source data are omitted.
Full nutrition
- Calories
- 701 kcal
- Protein
- 21 g
- Carbohydrates
- 90 g
- Fat
- 27 g
- Fiber
- 7 g
- Sugar
- 10 g
- Sodium
- 643 mg
- Saturated Fat
- 11 g
- Monounsaturated Fat
- 10 g
- Polyunsaturated Fat
- 2 g
- Cholesterol
- 41 mg
- Potassium
- 310 mg
- Calcium
- 191 mg
- Iron
- 1.8 mg
- Magnesium
- 66 mg
- Phosphorus
- 296 mg
- Zinc
- 2.3 mg
- Vitamin A
- 180 mcg
- Vitamin C
- 41 mg
- Vitamin D
- 0.1 mcg
- Vitamin E
- 1.6 mg
- Vitamin K
- 17 mcg
- Vitamin B6
- 0.2 mg
- Vitamin B12
- 0.2 mcg
- Thiamin
- 0.11 mg
- Riboflavin
- 0.13 mg
- Niacin
- 1.9 mg
- Folate
- 22 mcg
- Water
- 47 g
- Alcohol
- 3 g
Sources: Aggregated Public Data, USDA FoodData Central
Method
Pour the canned plum tomatoes into a large bowl and crush them by hand into bite-sized pieces. Thinly slice the garlic.
Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the sliced garlic and toast gently until it just begins to turn golden brown at the edges, being careful not to let it burn.
Carefully pour in the red wine to deglaze the pan. Simmer until the wine has reduced by half and the raw alcohol smell has cooked off.
Stir in the hand-crushed plum tomatoes, salt, and black pepper. Bring to a gentle simmer, then reduce the heat to low. Let it cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens and the flavors meld.
While the sauce simmers, bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a rolling boil at 100°C/212°F. Add the rigatoni and cook until al dente, usually 1 to 2 minutes less than the package instructions.
Reserve 120ml of the starchy pasta cooking water, then drain the rigatoni in a colander. Add the cooked pasta directly into the simmering tomato sauce along with a splash of the pasta water.
Remove the pan from the heat entirely. Vigorously stir in the cold cubed butter and grated Parmigiano-Reggiano until thoroughly emulsified into a glossy, thick sauce that coats the rigatoni. Garnish with torn fresh basil if desired.
Chef's Notes
- Using cold cubed butter at the very end of cooking is a French technique called monter au beurre, which gives the sauce an unparalleled velvet texture.
- Do not skip reserving the pasta water. The starch in the water is the critical binding agent that marries the butter, cheese, and tomato base together into a cohesive sauce.
- Cook the wine until you can no longer smell sharp alcohol fumes rising from the pot. If the alcohol does not cook off before adding the tomatoes, the sauce will taste unpleasantly astringent.
- Rigatoni is chosen for its ridges (rigati) and wide hollow center, which capture both the crushed tomato pieces and the thick, glossy emulsion perfectly.
Storage
Refrigerator: 4 days — Store pasta and sauce separately if possible to prevent the rigatoni from becoming mushy.
Freezer: 3 months — Sauce freezes beautifully; do not freeze the cooked pasta.
Reheating: Reheat gently in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Add a splash of water to re-emulsify the sauce if the butter separates.
Troubleshooting
Sauce looks broken, greasy, or split after adding butter
Cause: The pan was too hot when the butter was added, or the butter was not cold
Fix: Add a splash of hot starchy pasta water and agitate the pan rapidly to re-emulsify the fats
Prevention: Always remove the pan from direct heat before adding cold, cubed butter and stir vigorously
Sauce is too acidic or tart
Cause: The plum tomatoes were harvested underripe, or the wine was not reduced enough
Fix: Stir in 2g to 4g of sugar or a splash of heavy cream to balance the acidity
Prevention: Ensure the wine is reduced by at least half before adding tomatoes; use high-quality San Marzano tomatoes
Cultural Context
While butter and tomatoes are famously paired in classic Italian-American cuisine and dishes like Marcella Hazan's iconic tomato sauce, incorporating a red wine reduction adds a hearty, autumnal depth. This technique bridges traditional Italian pasta-making fundamentals with rich, bistro-style pan sauce methods.
