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Spaghetti pomodoro
Also known as pasta al pomodoro · spaghetti al pomodoro · tomato spaghetti · spaghetti pommodoro
Spaghetti in a simple tomato sauce with basil and olive oil, done perfectly or not at all. The plainest plate on the menu, and the test of the kitchen.
Typical serving
520 kcal
usually 410–660 kcal
 Protein | 14 g |
|---|---|
 Carbs | 85 g |
 Fat | 14 g |
Reference figures for a dish as it is commonly cooked — never a measurement of your plate. The range is the honest part: two kitchens make this differently. In the app, a photograph replaces the guess.
Ingredients
Serves 2 · dimmer marks are storecupboard
- 200gspaghetti
- 1 tintinned tomatoes — whole plum, not chopped — the chopped ones are the tail ends and stay watery
- 2 tbspolive oil
- 2garlic cloves
- 1 handfulbasil
- to tastesalt
Method
6 steps
chop · 3mGarlic sliced thin rather than crushed. Sliced, it perfumes the oil and comes out sweet; crushed, it catches and turns bitter before the tomatoes are in.
fry · 5mGarlic into the oil in a cold pan and brought up slowly until it just turns blond at the edges. Blond, not brown.
simmer · 22mTomatoes crushed in by hand, and left until the colour has gone from red to brick and the oil rises back to the edges of the pan. Twenty minutes is the difference between a sauce and hot tomato.
boil · 9mSpaghetti in heavily salted water and lifted out a minute before the packet says. Keep a mugful of the water.
fold · 3mPasta straight into the sauce with a splash of that water and tossed over the heat for a minute so it drinks some in. This last minute is where the dish is made, and draining pasta into a colander then spooning sauce on top is why most versions of it are dull.
finish · 1mBasil torn in off the heat, a thread more oil, salt.
Worth knowing
The tomato reached Italy in the 1500s and was grown as an ornamental for two centuries before anyone dared sauce pasta with it.
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Browse macros for every Italian dish Foodakl can log: Italian
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