While I was in Houston Diane made some amazing food, including her sourdough (which she taught me!) and this improvised pasta sauce. We all liked it so much that I told her we had to write it down because it was that good.

You can see that Patty enjoyed the fruit of her mother’s labors!

Diane’s Improvised Pasta Sauce

Makes enough for one pound of pasta (we used penne)

1 jar of marinara sauce

2 fresh tomatoes, quartered

jarred mined garlic or fresh minced garlic, 2 tbsp.

Extra virgin olive oil, about 2 tbsp.

salt to taste

Pinot grigio, 1- 1 1/2 cups

heavy cream 2/3 c.

basil, fresh or dried (Diane has a basil plant so we used fresh)—as much as you want.

Heat the extra virgin olive oil in a pot, then add quartered tomatoes. Bring to a simmer. Once the tomatoes are soft, add the garlic and cook for one minute. Add wine, cook until about reduced by half. Add marinara sauce and basil leaves, bring to a simmer and let simmer for 1-2 minutes. Take off the heat, add cream, taste and adjust seasoning if necessarily. Use immersion blender to blend (Or a regular blender).

You can either use fresh or let cool and put in the fridge for later use.