Umbricelli al Sugo

In most Italian households, sugo al pomodoro, or just sugo, is the standard sauce for pasta. When the cook has had a bad day, or a lazy day, it’s always pasta al sugo (pasta with tomato sauce). It’s simple, and yet it tastes absolutely amazing. In fact, it’s strength lies in it’s simplicity – you could eat this every day and not get bored. This isn’t how it’s classically made, and there are faster ways to make a classic sugo. However, this is one way to make a very good sauce without having to have access to the best Italian pelati or passata. You can make this pasta with any kind of pasta really, but it works especially well with umbricelli (click to see how to make them from scratch).

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 400g cherry tomatoes
• 500g passata
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1/3 onion
• 1 shallot
• 5 leaves fresh basil
• 650g umbricelli
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Preparation (25-30 minutes)

Fill a big pot with water and leave it to boil. Put a pan on medium heat and add the olive oil. Chop the garlic cloves into 3 pieces, and add that to the pan. Add the onion and the shallot, chopped pretty small. Leave to cook for about 7 minutes. Chop all of the cherry tomatoes quite small and add them to the pan. After letting it cook for about 8 minutes, add the passata. Let cook on low heat until ready to serve (at least 5 minutes) Add the umbricelli to the boiling water, and leave for about 5 minutes (mixing every once in a while). After 5 minutes, taste a piece of pasta and see if it’s cooked right. If it is, drain the pasta, put it back in the now empty pot, and add the sauce.