Creamy Garlic Tomato Sauce (Mia Bella Cleveland Copy Cat Recipe)

Little Italy, one of my favorite neighborhoods in Cleveland is on the east side of town and it's home to one of my favorite dishes of all time. Since I live on the west side of town, it's kind of a treck - but always worth it for Mia Bella's cheese tortellini. Cheese stuffed pasta is a no-brainer but the sauce that it's served in is this amazingly rich blush pasta sauce - and it may or may not come with enough of it to save some and put over more pasta right when you get home. :)

I've tried to recreate it several times and it just wasn't happening. The other day I was cooking tomatoes in a skillet with some olive oil + garlic and decided to randomly added in a few different things and ended up with the literal same sauce that's served with the tortellini at Mia Bella. Funny how that kind of stuff always seems to happen on accident. 

What You Need

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2-3 thick slices of butter
• 3 large garlic cloves, minced or grated
• 2 cups of cherry tomatoes 
• 1/3 cup white wine (I used chardonnay)
• 1 cup heavy cream
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Pasta - whatever kind you want

Optional:

• 1/2 cup peas
• 1/2 cup sliced bacon or pancetta 
• Parmesan cheese for topping

What To Do

1. Warm the olive oil and butter in a large skillet on low-medium heat.
2. Add in the garlic and whole cherry tomatoes and let things simmer for about 8-10 minutes.
3. The cherry tomatoes will start to wilt a bit. Pour in the wine and heavy cream and gently press down on the cherry tomatoes in order to "pop them" aka, get their juices out into the sauce. (Things should turn a really pretty orange color when you stir.)
4. Add in salt and pepper, then stir and cover with a lid. Let it simmer for about 15 minutes on low heat and then it's ready for  the pasta! (If you're using peas and pancetta you can put them in before you simmer.)