The test of a tomato sauce is that there is nowhere to hide. Four ingredients, twenty minutes, and no technique to speak of — so everything rests on the tomatoes and the pasta. This is why Italians argue about brands.
What you need
- 500g Rummo spaghetti grossi, bronze die
- 1 tin peeled tomatoes (400g), or 400g from our Casillo catering tin
- 4 tablespoons Luglio Extra Virgin Olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and left whole
- A handful of basil
- Salt
- Parmigiano or pecorino, to serve
Method
- Start the water first. A large pot, well salted — it should taste like the sea. Pasta water that is under-salted cannot be corrected later.
- Warm the oil and garlic together in a wide pan over a low heat. Do not let the garlic colour past pale gold; burnt garlic turns the whole sauce bitter. Two minutes is enough.
- Crush the tomatoes in by hand — straight into the pan, breaking them as you go. A blender makes the sauce pink and foamy. Your hands leave it in pieces, which is what you want.
- Simmer for 15 minutes, uncovered, on a gentle heat. It is ready when the oil separates and floats at the edges. Add salt. Take the garlic out.
- Cook the spaghetti following the time on the packet for "al dente" cooking. Bronze-die pasta has a rough surface that holds sauce, and it finishes cooking in the pan.
- Move the pasta into the sauce with tongs, carrying a little of the cooking water with it. Toss hard over the heat for a minute. The starch in that water is what binds the sauce to the pasta instead of leaving it in a puddle at the bottom of the bowl.
- Tear in the basil off the heat. Serve immediately, with cheese at the table.
Notes
On the pasta. Bronze-die means the dough was pushed through a bronze mould rather than a teflon one. It comes out rough and slightly pale instead of smooth and yellow. Sauce clings to it. Once you have cooked with it the smooth kind looks like it is wearing a raincoat.
On the tomatoes. Peeled plum tomatoes, not chopped. Chopped tomatoes are usually the ones not good enough to peel whole, and they carry more of the tin.
Never rinse the pasta. The starch on the outside is the sauce's only way of holding on.