Pasta al pomodoro (Italian:[ˈpastaalpomoˈdɔːro]) is a pasta dish typically prepared with fresh tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, basil, and salt. It is intended to be a quick and light dish, rather than a dish in a heavy sauce.

Etymology

Pomodoro means 'tomato' in Italian. More specifically, pomodoro is a univerbation of pomo ('apple') + d ('of') + oro ('gold'), possibly because the first varieties of tomatoes arriving in Europe and spreading from Spain to Italy and North Africa were yellow, with the earliest attestation (of the archaic plural form pomi d'oro) going back to Pietro Andrea Mattioli (1544).

A red strain was later developed in Africa, which came to be known in Italy as pomo dei morì ('apple of the Moors').

See also

Media related toTomato sauce pastaat Wikimedia Commons Tomato Pastaat the Wikibooks Cookbook subproject