Pasta al Pomodoro

Ingredients

• 200 g spaghetti
• 400 g good tinned tomatoes
• 2 garlic cloves, lightly crushed but whole
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• a large sprig of basil, plus leaves to finish
• 20 g cold butter
• salt, to taste

Method

1. Warm the garlic

   Put the whole garlic cloves in the cold oil and bring them up to a gentle sizzle. Left whole they perfume the oil without ever catching, and you fish them out later.

   4 min

2. Simmer

   Add the tomatoes, the basil sprig and a good pinch of salt. Simmer gently until it thickens and turns a deeper red — this is a sauce that rewards patience more than ingredients.

   20 min

3. Cook the pasta

   Boil the spaghetti in well-salted water until al dente. Remove the garlic and basil sprig from the sauce.

   8 min

4. Bring it together

   Toss the drained pasta through the sauce with a splash of pasta water and the cold butter. The butter is what makes it glossy rather than merely wet.

5. Serve

   Tear over fresh basil at the table, not before — the heat kills it within a minute.