This is an easy pasta dish that has a surprising depth of flavor.

Ingredients (for two portions):

  • 160 grams of pasta1 (80 grams per person)
  • some salt
  • some olive oil
  • a generous amount of pepper
  • the equivalent of one and a half large cloves of garlic
  • a dozen leaves of basil2
  • 100 grams (roughly) of cherry tomatoes3
  • optionally about 30 grams of butter

Preparation:

Mise en place

  • rince the basil leaves and dice them very finely
  • crush the garlic
  • cut the cherry tomatoes in fourth4

Pasta

  • fill a pan with water and bring it to a boil
  • add a generous amount of salt to your pasta water5
  • add the pasta when the water starts boiling and keep cooking for about 10 minutes (until your pasta is cooked)

Sauce

  • put the olive oil in a wok
  • add a very generous amount of pepper and cook on high heat until the pepper becomes fragrant6
  • add the crushed garlic and finely diced basil
  • add the tomatoes
  • let simmer until the pasta are ready

Assembly

  • once the pasta is cooked, add a splash of pasta water to the wok, this will help with the consistency of the sauce
  • strain the pasta and add them to the wok (it is fine if there is some pasta water left with the pasta, we added pasta water to the wok anyway)
  • optionally add the diced butter
  • start mixing on high heat until you reach the desired consistency7

Credits:

This recipe is an array of classic techniques put together to produce a pasta dish with a (cherry) tomatoes and basil sauce.

  1. I prefer to use long thin pasta such as spaghetti or tagliatelle for this recipe. Ideally, you want pasta that will catch the sauce such as bronze-cut pasta but, you do not need to go that fancy with your ingredients here. ↩︎

  2. Be careful not to use too much basil, it can quickly become overpowering and almost bitter. ↩︎

  3. They tend to be sweeter and more flavorful. If you have good, flavorful, normal tomatoes then feel free to dice and use them. ↩︎

  4. You could blend them for a smooth sauce, but a bit of homogeneity is not bad and makes the recipe easier and faster. ↩︎

  5. The pasta will taste better and it will help to salt the sauce later. ↩︎

  6. Be careful not to overdo it and let your pepper burn. ↩︎

  7. I recommend aiming for slightly more liquid than your sweet spot, the sauce will thicken further once served ↩︎