Pasta with Ricotta and Pan-Fried Tomato Sauce

Bring pot of water to a boil: In a large pot over high heat, bring a large pot of salty water to a boil. Cook the onions and olives: While the pasta water is coming to a boil, prepare the sauce. In a large pan, over high heat, warm the olive oil. Add the onion and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions have shrunk in size and softened, about 3 minutes. Add the olives, and cook, stirring only once or twice, until they start to turn a little bit golden-brown, about 3 more minutes. Alison Bickel / Simply Recipes Break up tomatoes and add to the pan: Working with one tomato at a time, hold the tomatoes over the pan and use your hand to break them up into long, thick strips as you add them, making sure to break up the firm, stem-ends. (To keep the tomatoes from spitting juice on you, you may want to make a hole in each tomato with your thumb and drain any liquid before you break them up.) Add any liquid that might be hiding in the bottom of the can (usually about 1/2 inch of sauce). Alison Bickel / Simply Recipes Season the tomatoes: Season the tomatoes with the remaining 1/4 teaspoon of salt, sugar, and black pepper. Cook the tomato sauce, stirring occasionally but letting the tomatoes caramelize on the bottom; the liquid will evaporate and the tomatoes will look jammy, about 15 minutes. As they finish cooking, let the tomatoes sit in the pan without stirring for just long enough that they start to smell like they’ve browned, similar to the smell you get when you bake a lasagna. Alison Bickel / Simply Recipes Alison Bickel / Simply Recipes Cook and drain the pasta: While the sauce is cooking, make the pasta. Cook the pasta until al dente (until it is cooked through but still has some bite to it in the center), according to the package instructions, about 11 minutes. Drain the pasta using a colander, then transfer it to a large mixing bowl. Alison Bickel / Simply Recipes Toss pasta with butter: Add the butter to the mixing bowl of pasta and toss to combine using a wooden spoon until the butter has melted. Alison Bickel / Simply Recipes Assemble the pasta and serve: Divide the cooked pasta between four bowls. Top each bowl of pasta with 1/4 of the ricotta and 1/4 of the sauce. Garnish with basil. Serve hot. Alison Bickel / Simply Recipes