I saw a picture on the internet of a tomato and mascarpone sauce and it peeked my interest. I had never heard of such a sauce and I thought it would be good. I googled it and found that most recipes are a basic tomato sauce with mascarpone added. Sounded simple enough! I decided to give it a whirl and it turned out great. This was so simple and it packed a lot of great flavor. The mascarpone added a nice creaminess to the sauce that we both really enjoyed. This was a nice change to our usual tomato sauce. We served the sauce with some garlic & herb grilled chicken for a fabulous dinner!
Tomato Mascarpone Sauce
(Printable Recipe)
- olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 shallot or small onion
- 1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes (San Marzano if you can get them)
- 2 tsp basil
- 4 oz mascarpone cheese
Heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Saute shallot until translucent; add garlic and cook for one minute, or until fragrant. Pour tomatoes and basil into skillet and simmer for 5 minutes. Add mascarpone and stir until combined. Simmer for another 5 minutes. Serve with your favorite pasta.
That sauce sounds fantastic and flexible enough to use with so many dishes.
Ingrid – we don't use a lot of mascarpone either because of the cost. I think maybe ricotta would work better than cream cheese. I might try ricotta next week.
We love mascarpone but save it for special occasions due to the price. Do you think it was worth adding? Or could cream cheese be used? I've used it in other dishes and have been pleased. Thanks, Steph!
~ingrid
Nice! I love the sweet tomato appeal of your sauce proportions! I've been making something similar lately though mine is a cream sauce.