The classic pasta dish: spaghetti with tomato sauce

By á-7571

A couple of things: look out for decent-quality pasta (such as Garofalo), ideally extruded over bronze, which sounds grand, but isn’t. It is a process used by all good manufacturers to give pasta the rough texture that helps the sauce cling. Cook the pasta until al dente. Whether you eat it just so, or finished with a dusting of cheese, spaghetti al pomodoro is one of the world’s truly great meals.You could, of course, add a couple of anchovies, or a handful of capers and black olives to the sauce as you heat it up.

Ingredients

• 500 g spaghetti
• 500 ml tomato sauce
• A sprig of fresh basil
• Parmesan or pecorino
• Salt

Details

Adapted from theguardian.com

Preparation

Step 1

1 Bring a large pan of water to a fast boil, add salt, stir and add spaghetti.

2 While the spaghetti cooks, warm the sauce in a small pan with a sprig of basil, tasting and adjusting salt if necessary.

3 Drain the spaghetti, tip into a bowl, pour in ¾ of the sauce and toss well. Divide the spaghetti between four bowls and top with the remaining sauce. Pass around a bowl of grated parmesan or pecorino for those who wish