My Italian colleague gave me this recipe.. apparently it's the first thing any Italian girl should know how to cook.
It's fairly easy to make, and tastes heavenly. And unlike many Continental dishes, you don't have to go to great lengths and buy all kinds of stuff you will never use again just to make it once. ;)
Ok. Ingredients:
- A packet of spaghetti (duh!) - Rule of thumb: One portion equals the number of spaghetti sticks that fit between your hand and thumb when the thumb is straight.
- Some tomatoes, chopped but not too finely - preferably the small red cherry tomatoes (quarter them!) but any ripe ones will do.
- 4 pods of garlic per portion - finely chopped and then crushed a bit
- Oil (extra virgin olive oil would be best, but sunflower is ok too)
- Salt
- A little white pepper if you want to spice it up a bit.
How to put these together:
- Fill a large enough pot with water, bring it to boil.
- Add the spaghetti along with a few drops of oil and a pinch of rock salt (or ordinary salt if you can't be bothered).
- Let the spaghetti cook as many minutes as mentioned on the pack, or until they are tender.
- Meanwhile, in a pan, heat some oil and saute the garlic until it's slightly brown.
- Remove the garlic from the oil and keep aside.
- Add the tomatoes to the oil still in the pan and let them cook.
- Stir the garlic into the tomatoes once they're done, along with some salt to taste . Spice aficionados can add white pepper and "Italian seasoning" at this stage.
- Strain the spaghetti and toss with the tomato sauce.
- Serve with a smile (at this point you're actually not too tired out by the cooking to smile!)
This is exactly how they serve spaghetti with tomatoes in Italy - the only addition is a basil leaf for garnish! Buon appetito :)
