Living without canned tomatoes

Have you ever thought about how often you open a can of tomatoes to put into a recipe or use a canned pasta sauce....maybe not straight out of the can or jar but using it as the base for what you are making. When I'm in Houston, I always have several cans of tomatoes and a jar or two of pasta sauce....a staple in my pantry. Recently we've been able to get canned tomatoes in some stores in San Miguel de Allende but they are terrible. And the jars of pasta sauce are not your premium brands...they are more like the sauce for spaghetti-O's.

So I've been experimenting with quick pasta sauces. Tonight I guess you would call our dinner......

Fettucini with shrimp and tomatoes.

Parboiled and peeled 4 roma tomatoes, cut in small pieces
Chopped an onion
3 or 4 cloves of garlic chopped
salt
crushed red pepper
olive oil
white wine
3/4 to 1 pound of shelled shrimp...I like the medium ones
2 tablespoons of butter and a bit more olive oil.

Sauteed the onion in oil until limp and transparent, added the tomato, salt and red pepper and cooked until the tomato is softened. Add wine and continue cooking. I can't tell you how much wine. I added some more several times as it cooked down.

Cook the fettucini as per directions

Saute the shrimp in butter and a bit of olive oil. Just a bit but not fully done. Add shrimp (but not any juices) to the tomato mixture and cook on low heat while you reduce the juice from the shrimp. Add to the mixture and serve over the pasta. Serve with a good bread and a crisp salad. Oops...I should have photographed it!

Ned said this was pretty good....that is a compliment.