Comfort
Slow-Simmered Tomato Pasta
The lazy Sunday version of a tomato pasta. The sauce simmers for an hour with whole garlic cloves, fresh basil and a knob of butter — it tastes like you fussed when really you walked away. Cibo di Italia Penne Rigate grabs every spoonful.
Ingredients
- 400gCibo di Italia Penne Rigate
- 800gwhole peeled tomatoes — two 400g tins, best quality
- 4tbspolive oil
- 50gbutter
- 6piecesgarlic cloves — lightly crushed, skins on
- 1piecemedium onion — halved
- 1piecebig bunch fresh basil — whole stems
- 1tspsugar
- 1tspsalt
- 50gparmesan — grated, to serve
- to tasteblack pepper
Method
Step 1.Tip both tins of tomatoes into a wide pan and crush them gently with your hands or a wooden spoon. Half-fill one tin with water and add to the pan.
2 min
Step 2.Add the olive oil, butter, garlic, onion halves, basil stems, sugar and salt. Bring to a simmer over medium heat.
3 min
Step 3.Drop the heat to low and simmer uncovered for 55 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so. The sauce will reduce and turn deep red.
55 min
Step 4.Fish out the onion halves and basil stems. Squeeze the soft garlic cloves out of their skins back into the sauce and mash them in.
1 min
Step 5.While the sauce finishes, bring 4 litres of salted water to a boil. Cook the penne for 9 minutes for al dente.
9 min
Step 6.Scoop out a mug of pasta water. Drain the penne and tip into the sauce pan with a splash of pasta water.
1 min
Step 7.Toss for 1 minute over low heat until every ridge is coated. Tear in fresh basil leaves and serve with grated parmesan and a grind of pepper.
1 min
Goes well with
Sparkling water with a strip of orange peel and a few crushed basil leaves.
A simple Caprese — sliced tomato, mozzarella, basil, olive oil, salt.
Lemon sorbet with a drizzle of honey.
The pasta we used
Cibo di Italia Penne Rigate
500g · Cooks in 9–11 minutes · Serves ~5
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