Pasta al Pomodoro

Ingredients

• 14 ozspaghetti
• 1.8 lbcanned plum tomatoes, two cans
• 3 clovegarlic, peeled and lightly crushed
• 1/4 cupolive oil
• 1/2 ozfresh basil, leaves picked
• 1 tbspsea salt, most of it for the pasta water

Method

1. 1

   Put the olive oil and the crushed garlic cloves into a wide pan and set it over a medium-low heat. Starting them cold together means the garlic perfumes the oil for a minute or two before it can color. Cook until it smells sweet and is just turning pale gold, about 3 minutes.

2. 2

   Tip in the canned tomatoes, crushing each one in your fist as it goes, and add a good pinch of the salt. Raise the heat until it bubbles, then lower it to a steady simmer and leave it alone for 15 minutes, stirring now and then. It is ready when the sauce has darkened, pulled away from the sides of the pan and no longer tastes sharp.

3. 3

   While the sauce cooks, bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil, add the rest of the salt and cook the spaghetti for one minute less than the package says. Before you drain it, scoop out a mug of the cooking water.

4. 4

   Fish out the garlic cloves. Drain the spaghetti and drop it straight into the sauce with a splash of the pasta water, then toss hard over the heat for a minute until every strand is coated and the sauce clings. Tear in the basil and serve at once.