Entertaining on holiday, yes. Redesigning your kitchen, no.
A complete summer dinner, designed for a holiday home: minimal equipment and as much as possible prepared in advance.
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Pasta with a creamy tomato and butter sauce (traditional method & Thermomix)
Description
We’re only in Shenandoah for a few days, and I have absolutely no desire to turn the kitchen in our holiday home into a larder. On Saturday lunchtime, after our horse ride in the Blue Ridge Mountains, I want something warm, comforting and, above all, hassle-free.
This tomato sauce is exactly what I need. The concept is almost bewilderingly simple: very few ingredients, no complicated preparation, and a saucepan that you just leave to simmer gently. The onion gently infuses the sauce with flavour whilst it cooks, before being removed, whilst the butter rounds off the acidity of the tomatoes and gives the sauce a surprisingly smooth and velvety texture.
It’s also exactly the sort of recipe I love to make on holiday. I can reuse the same ingredients from one meal to the next: the Parmigiano is already set aside for our gnocchi with cherry tomatoes on Friday evening, the onion won’t be left to languish in a bag, and the butter will easily find its way into breakfast. No need to buy anything exotic, and no jars of spices to leave behind when we set off.
With pasta cooked al dente, freshly grated Parmigiano and a large green salad, you really don’t need anything else.
After Boston, Cape Cod, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, and nearly two weeks of eating mainly in restaurants, this sort of simple lunch – cooked by me and eaten outside in front of our little house in Shenandoah – is exactly what I fancied.
As is often the case in cooking, the simplest recipes can hold the most pleasant surprises.
Ingredients
Instructions
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Preparation
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1. Start making the sauce
- Pour the tomatoes and their juice into a large saucepan. Add the butter, the two onion halves and a good pinch of salt.
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2. Leave to simmer
- Bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat. Leave to cook uncovered for about 45 minutes over a low heat, stirring occasionally. Gradually break up the large pieces of tomato with a wooden spoon.
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3. Cook the pasta
- Cook the pasta al dente in plenty of salted water. Set aside a little of the cooking water before draining.
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4. Finish
- Remove and discard the onion. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Toss the pasta with the sauce; add a splash of the pasta cooking water only if necessary. Serve with Parmigiano.
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My advice
- Choose good-quality tinned tomatoes: with so few ingredients, you can tell straight away how good they are. Do not fry the onion, and do not add garlic or herbs if you want to preserve the purity of this sauce. It freezes very well: remove the onion before freezing.
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Method using the Thermomix
- 1. Place the peeled tomatoes and their juice in the bowl. Blend for 3 seconds at speed 4.
- They simply need to be roughly chopped, not puréed.
- 2. Add the butter, the onion (peeled and halved) and the salt.
- 3. Cook for 45 mins / 100°C / reverse direction / spoon speed, without the measuring cup. Place the cooking basket on the lid to prevent splashes whilst allowing the sauce to reduce.
- 4. Remove the two onion halves.
- 5. Check the consistency. If the sauce is still too runny, cook for a further 5–10 minutes / Varoma / reverse direction / spoon speed, with the cooking basket in place of the measuring cup.
- 6. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
- Serve with pasta cooked al dente, a little freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano and, if you like, a few twists of freshly ground black pepper.
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Tip: I prefer to cook the pasta separately rather than in the Thermomix: I cook it in a large pan of salted water whilst the sauce simmers gently.
