Spaghetti Pomodoro

Spaghetti Pomodoro (serves two to four):
You’ll need olive oil, an onion, two cloves of garlic, a tin of tomatoes, tomato puree, sugar, salt, pepper, basil and oregano, spaghetti and parmesan.

Pour a generous measure of olive oil into a heavy bottomed saucepan, turn heat to medium. Chop onions roughly and fry in oil until translucent, don’t worry if they brown a bit – adds flavour. Peel and crush garlic, add to onions. I’m lazy and just flatten the cloves with a knife, chop them a bit and bung them in. Then add tin of tomatoes (I always add a generous teaspoon of sugar to the tin as the tomatoes are frequently on the bitter side). Stir and turn down heat. Add a splodge of tomato puree, salt, freshly ground black pepper, chopped basil (generous sprig) and oregano(a couple of fresh heads or 1/2 teaspoon dried). Simmer for fifteen minutes or so, tasting regularly (you’ll know when it has reached perfection).

Boil up spaghetti (only you can tell how hungry you all are, but 150g per head should be okay) in a large pan of salted water with a drop or two of oil, for as long as directed on packet (A packet, what the! Shouldn’t you be making fresh? Do me a favour, when do I have the time? Italians always used packet pasta and they don’t complain). When al dente drain and serve. Add a generous helping of sauce to each bowl, grate parmesan over the top and grind over some pepper. Eat.

If there’s any sauce over mop it up afterwards (when it has cooled a bit) with fresh bread straight from the saucepan.

Variations on a theme: when the fresh tomatoes are at their best in the UK I often make this dish out of fresh tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and basil. Whether you use beef or cherry tomatoes chop them up a bit then add to hot oil and soften. Add in the coarsely chopped garlic and roughly torn basil leaves. Allow to simmer for ten minutes or so. Small bits of crispy bacon go nicely with this dish – stir them in at the end. Spoon sauce over spaghetti, linguine, tagliatelli etc and serve with black pepper and parmesan cheese.

Make the tomato sauce as above and add chopped crispy bacon and a hot chilli (halve the chilli, remove the seeds and finely chop), serve as above. Pasta bake Alternatively one can spoon the mix over part cooked penne, cover with mozzarella and grated parmesan and bake at 180C for thirty to forty minutes.

A version I favour for Summer Saturday lunches: it is simple and great for a big family gathering, particularly if there are lots of fussy children who don’t like this, that and the other. Cook up enough spaghetti for everyone (150g for adults and 75g for younger children), while this is cooking prepare a selection of bowls: grated cheese (parmesan, cheddar or edam), chopped fresh tomatoes, fresh basil, chopped fresh ham. When the spaghetti is done, drain it, bung it in a bowl and call the herd to the table. They can then eat what they like.