Slow cooked tomato sauce and prosciutto pasta

Caserecce with slow cooked tomato sauce and prosciutto! This delicious pasta sauce is proper comfort food. ​
This pasta sauce is not an authentic Italian recipes but looking what was left in our fridge and in the cupboard this recipe came out. A rich sauce and full of flavour, perfect for a lazy Sunday dinner! 

Serves 2/3 
Takes 45 min / 1 hour 

What you need: 

• 250g of caserecce (or any pasta you have at home will do aswell) 
• A small can of plum tomatoes (blended in a food processor or crushed by hand) 
• 1 garlic clove - finely chopped
• 1 shallot -  finely chopped
• 1 small carrot - peeled and chopped in small tiny cubes 
• 2 sun dried tomatoes - finely chopped
• 6 slices of prosciutto chopped in short stripes (if you want you can even use pancetta or bacon instead) 
• 1/3 tsp of chilli flakes 
• Fresh parsley (finely chopped - about 2 tbsp) 
• Extra virgin olive oil

The cooking process:

1. First of all start with the sauce by adding a touch of olive oil in a small pot on a medium heat.
2. Add the stripes of prosciutto and slowly fry to render the natural fat and crisp up.
3. In sequence add the chopped ingredients: carrot, shallot, sun dried tomato and garlic for last. Fry gently for few minutes making sure nothing  burn. 
4. Finally add 1/3 tsp of chilli flakes and the blended plum tomatoes. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper and stir well.
5. Let the sauce cook on a very low heat for 45 min to 1 hour then taste again and adjust the seasoning. 
6. Now cook the caserecce in salted boiling water until cooked al dente.
7. Once the pasta is cooked save few tbsp of the starchy water in a cup then drain the pasta and transfer it back in the same pot where you boiled it. 
8. Add the slow cooked tomato sauce into the pasta, toss and stir well until the sauce coat all the pasta (If the sauce is to thick then add few tbsp of the starchy water to make it a little more creamy). Then add 1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil and the parsley, stir all together again!
9. Serve nice and warm, Enjoy!!