Flavourful, super-ripe tomatoes – which are abundant at this time of year – are essential for this version of pasta with tomato sauce, said Tim Siadatan. It’s the perfect dish to serve for a light lunch, or as a starter for a dinner party.
Ingredients (serves 4)
- 400g dried spaghetti or linguine
- 1kg very ripe tomatoes, washed
- 1 medium garlic clove, grated or crushed to a paste
- 8 basil leaves, roughly chopped, or 1 tsp wild oregano (from a dried bunch), crumbled
- 150ml extra-virgin olive oil
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
- For the pasta, in a large cooking pot bring 4-5 litres of water to the boil and add a fistful of salt.
- Meanwhile, coarsely grate around one-third of the tomatoes to a pulp, discarding any tough skins, and place in a large bowl.
- Cut the remaining two-thirds into roughly 1cm pieces and add to the bowl with the garlic, basil or oregano and extra-virgin olive oil. Add a pinch each of salt and pepper and stir. Leave to sit for 5 minutes, to allow the salt to draw out the tomato juice and create a yummy sauce.
- Drop the pasta into the boiling water and follow the packet directions for timing, but take two minutes off the recommended cooking time (so if the packet says nine minutes, give it seven minutes).
- Transfer the raw tomato sauce to a pan large enough to easily hold the cooked pasta as well.
- Drain the pasta as soon as it’s ready, keeping two mugs of pasta water, and add the pasta to the raw tomato sauce.
- Stir over a low heat until the pasta is al dente (firm to bite but easy to chew) and integrated with the sauce, adding small splashes of the reserved pasta water to loosen the sauce if it is too dry. The aim is for the raw tomato sauce to properly coat the pasta without the tomatoes cooking, so go carefully when adding pasta water, because you don’t want to have to simmer the sauce to reduce it.
- The seasoning is crucial here, so taste a strand of the pasta and adjust if required. Serve on hot plates and eat immediately.
Extract taken from “Padella: Iconic Pasta at Home” by Tim Siadatan.
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