Quick and Easy Pasta With Cherry Tomato Sauce

This is the fastest, easiest way to make pasta sauce from scratch. The secret is using cherry tomatoes. Cherry tomatoes are almost always sweeter, riper, and higher in pectin than larger tomatoes at the supermarket. All of these factors means that cherry tomatoes are fantastic for making a rich, thick, flavorful sauce. Even better: it only takes four ingredients and about 10 minutes start to finish – less time than it takes to cook the pasta you’re gonna serve it with.

RECIPE:

INGREDIENTS

1 pound dry pasta
Kosher salt
4 medium cloves garlic, thinly sliced
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 1/2 pounds cherry tomatoes (about 2 pints; 750g)
1 ounce fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped (about 1 cup; 30g)
Freshly ground black pepper
Parmesan cheese, for serving

DIRECTIONS

1. Place pasta in a large skillet or sauté pan and cover with water and a big pinch of salt. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally. Boil until just shy of al dente, about 1 minute less than the package instructions.

2. Meanwhile, heat the garlic and 4 tablespoons olive over in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat, stirring frequently, until garlic is softened but not browned, about 3 minutes. Add tomatoes and cook, stirring, until tomatoes begin to burst. You can help them along by pressing on them with the back of a wooden spoon as they soften.

3. Continue to cook until sauce is rich and creamy, about 5 minutes longer. Stir in basil and season to taste with salt and pepper.

4. When pasta is cooked, drain, reserving a cup of pasta water. Add pasta to sauce and increase heat to medium-high. Cook, stirring and tossing constantly, and adding pasta water as necessary to adjust consistency to a nice, creamy flow. Remove from heat, stir in remaining olive oil, and grate in a generous shower of Parmesan cheese. Serve immediately, passing extra Parmesan at the table.

Music: Bensound.com

[Music] hey everybody this is Kenji Lopez Al from sirious eats and today I’m going to show you the quickest and easiest way I know to make a fresh tomato sauce from scratch the key here is using cherry tomatoes you see big beef steak tomatoes like this are picked while they’re still green and hard so that they don’t crush themselves under their own weight while they’re being shipped on the other hand cherry tomatoes because they’re so small they’re allowed to ripen much further on the vine at the supermarket cherry tomatoes almost always have better flavor than the big beef steak tomatoes especially when we’re out of tomato season they’re also sweeter and higher imp pectin than regular Tomatoes which means that you can make a rich thick sauce in record time all you need is four ingredients extra virgin olive oil garlic cherry tomatoes and a little bit of Basil now here’s how we do it start by slicing up four cloves of fresh garlic this is about as hard as the recipe gets now add 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil to a large skillet add the garlic and heat them together over medium heat as the garlic slowly sizzles and softens it’ll Infuse the oil with sweet flavor extra virgin olive oil can turn bitter if it smokes so make sure not to let it get too hot a gentle Sizzle is all you’re looking for when the garlic is softened add a couple pints of cherry tomatoes directly to the skillet there’s no need to cut them beforehand as soon as they’re in there stir the pan a bit to prevent the garlic from burning at the bottom as the tomatoes cook and soften their water content will turn to steam putting pressure on their skin eventually those skins will burst letting the pectin and flavor Rich juices out into the pan you can help this process Along by stirring and gently pressing on the tomatoes as they soften continue to cook as the tomatoes slowly transform into sauce this only takes a few minutes so you might think about cooking some pasta to go with it in fact it’s so fast you can even start the pasta before you begin the sauce when it’s nice and thick and creamy season the sauce to taste with a little freshly ground pepper and a big pinch of salt stir in a big handful of chopped fresh basil leaves and we’re just about ready for that pasta I like to cook my pasta just shy of alente because I’m going to continue cooking it a bit directly in the sauce simmering it over high heat when you drain your pasta make sure to reserve some of its starchy cooking water which we’re going to use to help adjust the consistency of the sauce as we toss it together with the pasta as you toss and stir the sauce should turn rich and creamy coating each piece of pasta but still flowing when you tilt the pan it’s not essential but a little cheese never hurt anyone so I finish it all off with a big shower of finely grated fresh parmes and serve it up immediately because good pasta Waits for No [Music] One