Fresh tomato pasta sauce is made from just four ingredients - and is absolutely delicious. This simple recipe is from celebrity chef and Italian cooking expert Theo Randall.
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00:00Hello, my name is Theo Randall from Theo Randall at the Intercontinental.
00:03I'm going to show you how to make a tomato sauce using fresh tomatoes and tomato passato.
00:11So first of all, we're going to add some olive oil and some garlic.
00:14So when you get garlic, it's always good to squeeze the garlic to see how fresh it is.
00:18Now, if the garlic's very, very firm, that means it's very, very fresh.
00:21Sometimes you can pick up garlic bulbs and they almost crack and they're soft inside.
00:25That means the garlic's old, so it'll have a very unpleasant taste.
00:28This is lovely fresh garlic, so it's nice and firm.
00:31So we just get a couple of cloves of garlic.
00:33Now, Italian food, they don't use that much garlic.
00:35It's always a bit of a myth that, you know, all this Mediterranean food has lots of garlic.
00:40It does have some, but not masses.
00:42So it's important to get just the right quantity, otherwise it's just going to be too strong.
00:46So we're just going to peel the garlic clove and then we're going to slice it very, very thinly.
00:51Okay, I'm just going to cut down the middle and then make sure there's no sprout in the middle.
00:56There is a little bit of a sprout, so we'll take that out.
00:59And then just slice the garlic.
01:01We'll do one clove, probably enough.
01:03And then we'll just slice the garlic nice and thinly.
01:07You can do this on a slicer, on a mandolin if you've got a small truffle mandolin,
01:12or just best thing is a small knife like this, a small paring knife.
01:16So nice thin slices of garlic.
01:18Then we're going to add some good olive oil.
01:20So nice flavoursome olive oil.
01:22If you use a cheap olive oil, it won't have that same flavour.
01:25Obviously you don't use the best oil you've got, but a nice extra virgin olive oil is great.
01:30So a good two to three tablespoons of olive oil.
01:34Sounds like a lot, but it's basically the oil is part of the sauce.
01:37It's not just the cooking medium.
01:39So we put the garlic in and then we're just going to soften the garlic.
01:42We don't want to get any colour.
01:43Don't put any colour on the garlic.
01:44Because if you add colour to the garlic, what's going to happen is you're going to have this sort of nutty brown taste.
01:49And everything will taste of this sort of slightly overcooked garlic, which is not very nice.
01:54Just let that soften.
01:55It takes about less than a minute.
01:57Then get some basil leaves.
01:59Now I'm going to use some fresh at the end and some now.
02:01And the thing is to get that oil tasting really nice.
02:04So I'm just going to rip up the bits of basil.
02:07I always think basil is so much nicer ripped up than chopped up or shredded.
02:10It just tastes better when it's just sort of ripped.
02:13And then just fry that basil and the garlic together.
02:17And then at this stage I'm just going to take the pan off.
02:20So the garlic and the basil infuses.
02:22And then I'm going to get some tomatoes.
02:24So these are just vine tomatoes.
02:26And we're just going to take out the core of the tomato.
02:29And you're just going to cut them in half.
02:31And we're going to pop them into this food blender.
02:33The skins have got masses of flavour.
02:35I'm just going to pop this in at a very high speed.
02:37It's just going to turn all this tomato into a pulp.
02:39And so you're going to get all that flavour from the skin as well.
02:41So rather than blanching tomatoes and peeling them.
02:44You can actually just go straight into the machine.
02:46And make a tomato paste almost.
02:49But try and get as ripe tomatoes as possible.
02:51The riper the better.
02:53And then pop that in.
02:55Turn it on.
02:56And it seems very, very wet.
03:09But that's fine.
03:10Because we're going to reduce it down.
03:12And then we're just going to turn the heat up a bit.
03:14Once it comes back up to heat.
03:16We'll add the chopped tomato.
03:18Just as simple as that.
03:19And then we'll just give a little stir.
03:20So all those ingredients combine.
03:22And we're just going to leave that to reduce.
03:24Just for like one minute.
03:26And then we get a jar of tomato passata.
03:29And then just pop that in.
03:30In it goes.
03:31So that's one whole jar.
03:33And then we're just going to give that a stir.
03:35And we're going to cook this slowly.
03:37For about 20 minutes.
03:39That whole quantity.
03:40The fresh tomato and the tomato passata.
03:42Reduces by half.
03:43And it'll give you a really lovely sweet tasting tomato sauce.
03:47Now turn the heat down a bit.
03:49And just let it simmer gently.
03:51For 20 minutes.
03:53So the tomato sauce is reduced by half.
03:56And it's got.
03:57They've become much thicker.
03:58And the only problem with making tomato sauce.
04:00Is it does splash everywhere.
04:01And I've managed to keep myself clean.
04:03Which is unusual.
04:04It's important that the sauce has got a nice.
04:06Sort of thickness to it.
04:07Without being too thick.
04:09Now the more you cook it.
04:10The sweeter it becomes.
04:11And the more intense the flavour.
04:12But this sort of consistency.
04:14Is just perfect.
04:15For some.
04:16Cooking it with some fresh pasta.
04:18Just get the.
04:19Basil.
04:20And just rip the basil in.
04:21And then we're going to add some.
04:22A little dash of.
04:23Nice.
04:24Olive oil.
04:25Again.
04:26So good.
04:27Dash of olive oil.
04:28Black pepper.
04:30And then.
04:33A little bit of salt.
04:34Just taste it.
04:35A little bit of salt.
04:37And then just.
04:38Give that.
04:39Nice.
04:40A little bit of olive oil.
04:41And.
04:42A little bit of olive oil.
04:43And.
04:44A little bit of olive oil.
04:45And so all that lovely oil.
04:46And the tomatoes.
04:47The garlic.
04:48And the basil.
04:49Is all nicely.
04:50Mixed together.
04:51And that is ready.
04:52To add to some delicious pasta.
04:53Just cook some.
04:54Talitelli.
04:55And toss the tomato sauce.
04:56With the talitelli.
04:57And then we're just going to.
04:59Check the seasoning.
05:00A bit of pepper.
05:03A little bit of salt.
05:06And a nice stash of olive oil.
05:09And just give that.
05:12Little.
05:13Toss all the pastas.
05:14Combined with the sauce.
05:16And just put.
05:17Very beautiful.
05:18Simple.
05:19Talitelli.
05:20A little bit more of that sauce.
05:21On top.
05:22And just finish with a few.
05:23Fresh leaves of basil.
05:24A bit more black pepper.
05:25And a drizzle.
05:26And really good olive oil.
05:27And there you have a delicious.
05:28Talitelli with fresh tomato sauce.
05:29And a little bit.
05:30One more that sauce.
05:31And a little bit of hot sauce.
05:32And you have a little bit.
05:33One more of that sauce on top.
05:34And just finish with a few.
05:35Fresh leaves of basil.
05:36A bit more black pepper.
05:38And a drizzle.
05:39And a little bit.
05:40And a drizzle.
05:41And a really good olive oil.
05:42And there you have a delicious talitelli.
05:43With fresh tomato sauce.