Slow-roast tomato pasta.
Tomatoes that have spent an unhurried hour with olive oil, garlic, and a pinch of salt collapse into something halfway between sauce and confit. Toss with bronze-cut pasta and the water you cooked it in. The dish makes itself.
ingredients.
- 1.2 kg ripe plum tomato halved lengthways
- 6 cloves garlic lightly crushed
- 120 ml good olive oil
- 1 tsp flaky salt
- ½ tsp chilli flakes optional
- 400 g bronze-cut spaghetti or rigatoni
- salt to taste, for the water
- 1 small bunch basil leaves only
- parmesan, pepper to serve
method.
- 01
Heat the oven to 150°C fan. Arrange the tomatoes cut-side up in a shallow tin with the garlic tucked between them. Pour over the oil, scatter salt and chilli, and roast for 60–70 minutes — they should be slumped and a little caramelised at the edges.
- 02
Bring a wide pan of well-salted water to a steady boil. Cook the pasta one minute shy of the packet time; reserve a mugful of the starchy water.
- 03
Tip the pasta into the roasting tin while everything is still hot. Add a splash of pasta water and toss firmly — the tomatoes break down, the oil emulsifies, and the sauce comes together in under a minute.
- 04
Tear in most of the basil. Plate, finish with parmesan, more basil, and a generous turn of pepper.