From the Salivate! kitchen
A sauce you might like to get all over your face
The story behind the dish
There are heaps of recipes for pasta sauces and everyone has a favourite – bolognese, napolitana, puttanesca – and there are so many cookbooks to get them from. So I am just going to write down a simple base I love to use.
I love the taste. The richness of the cherry tomatoes reminds me of the fresh market tomatoes I used to buy in Spain, straight from the farmer. Mum told me they taste just like the ones she used to eat as a kid. The depth of flavour is intense.
Sometimes I slice up some kalamata olives and throw them in with a few chilli flakes for bite and let the sauce simmer while I cook the pasta. If I have zapped the sauce smooth, I splash some whole cherry tomatoes with olive oil and put into the oven at 180 degrees for 15 minutes and then add them to the sauce for some texture and “pop”.
To serve I mix the sauce up with the cooked pasta, scatter fresh ripped basil leaves over the top and grate parmesan cheese over that.
Other times I get some raw prawns, peel (leaving the tails on) and de-vein them and then fry them in olive oil with thinly sliced onion and some chilli flakes. Give a good splash of white wine over the prawns and cook off the alcohol. Add the tomatoes. Pour in the cooked and drained pasta, some fresh rocket and coat the pasta with this really yummy sauce. Plate up and get into it x
The recipe
A sauce you might like to get all over your face
- Prep time
- 5 minutes
- Cook time
- 15 minutes
- Total time
- 20 minutes
- Difficulty
- Easy
Ingredients
- 2 punnets of cherry tomatoes
- A good slug of fruity extra virgin olive oil
- 4 -5 cloves of garlic cut in half
- salt and pepper to taste
Method
- Place all ingredients into a saucepan on a very low heat and put the lid on. Leave to cook down for 30 – 40 minutes.
- Check to make sure the tomatoes have “collapsed” - that means the sauce is ready. I like to mash it all up with a fork and make sure the garlic is mixed through properly.
- Season to taste
- You can have as chunky or smooth as you want - zap the mixture with a hand blender if you want it really smooth.