Recipes
Tomato and potato recipes.
A selection of recipes, reflecting the use of these vegetables in many different cuisines. Each recipe suggests a recommended variety whose particular qualities match the recipe in question.
Tomato pasta sauce
Simple tomato sauce served with penne pasta and basil.
Photographer: Ulterior epicure. Copyright: CC
Ingredients (for 2)
Cherry tomatoes have a strong taste and are very juicy - this makes them ideal for creating this piquant sauce.
- 30 cherry tomatoes (e.g. Santorini)
- 300g Pasta shapes
- 1 shallot
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 tbl sp Olive oil
- Bay leaf
- Pepper
- 4 Basil leaves
- Parmesan to taste
Directions
- Finely chop the shallot and heat gently, with the olive oil, in a thick based saucepan for around 5 minutes - until it has begun to soften but hasn't coloured.
- Finely slice the garlic and add to the pan. Cook for another 5 minutes at which point both the shallots and the garlic should be soft and the oil fragrant with garlic. If not continue cooking for a bit longer - stir occasionally to make sure nothing catches on the bottom.
- Chop the cherry tomatoes into half and then when the garlic and shallots are ready add to the pan along with the bay leaf. Keeping the heat low, cook for another 20 minutes, stirring at regular intervals, until the tomatoes have reduced to a thick sludge.
- TASTE! Is it watery or too thick? If so either reduce further or add a little boiling water. If the tomatoes weren't quite ripe it may be a little sharp, in which case add a little sugar to balance it out.
- Grind in black pepper and allow to sit over a very low heat (with a lid on if you want to prevent any further moisture escaping) while you cook the pasta.
- Cook pasta (I prefer penne for this) till 'al dente', drain, toss with tomato sauce and serve with a generous sprinkling of parmesan and two basil leaves on the side.
