Rich Pasta Tomato Sauce with Garlic and Basil
Sarah and I made this one night in Cannobio, Italy. It was delicious! That night we also worked out how to open a wine bottle with a wooden spoon.
Ingredients
- 400g tinned plum tomatoes
- 5 cloves of garlic
- 5 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil
- A handful of fresh basil
- Salt and pepper
Method
Finely chop the garlic (and don’t fret about the amount – it mellows as the sauce cooks).
In a saucepan, pour in the tinned plum tomatoes. If they are baby plum sized, roughly cut them in half using a pair of scissors. If they are the larger variety, cut them down to half baby plum size.
Add the garlic and the five tablespoons of olive oil. Grind some black pepper into the pan to your tastes.
Cook on a low-medium heat for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.
For all but the smallest of basil leaves, roughly tear them into smaller bits and put aside.
Tip: Unless you’ve got other plans, at this point you’d probably want to get some spaghetti on the go. It usually takes 8-9 minutes to cook spaghetti once you put it in well salted and already boiling water.
If the sauce is getting a bit too boiled down for your liking, add a tablespoon or two of cold water.
Near the end of the 25 minutes the oil should have somewhat separated from the sauce. Throw in half of the basil leaves (keep the rest for dish adornment) and stir.
If you need to salt to taste, now’s your moment.
Serve the sauce tossed with pasta, on top of the pasta, or whichever else way you had in mind.
Delicioza. Prego.