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
- 400 g Cibo di Italia Penne Rigate
- 800 g whole peeled tomatoes — two 400g tins, best quality
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 50 g butter
- 6 pieces garlic cloves — lightly crushed, skins on
- 1 piece medium onion — halved
- 1 piece big bunch fresh basil — whole stems
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 50 g parmesan — grated, to serve
- to taste black pepper
Method
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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
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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
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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.
Nutrition
Scaled to your servings
- 666kcalCalories33%
- 77.8gCarbohydrate30%
- 19.9gProtein40%
- 31.2gFat45%
The pasta we used
Cibo di Italia Penne Rigate
500g · Cooks in 9–11 minutes · Serves ~5
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