A Cheeky Italian

I was lucky enough to be invited to lunch at Clapham-based Donna Margherita on Friday to check out the menu for their Napoli in Clapham event. The food was amazing and it was great to hear the owner, Gabriele's, passion for Neapolitan food and culture.

As we ate our way through the bruschetta, parmigiana, calamari, pizza margherita (which I learned to fold like a true Italian), gnocchi and two of the most delicious cakes I've ever tried, we chatted about food - of course!! Gabriele is passionate about the difference cooking methods and the resulting food between Southern Italy - especially Napoli - and the rest of the country. You'll have to come to the event to learn more but one of the things he did tell me about was the importance of al dente pasta - apparently those from Napoli like a bit more bite than the result of the country. He was kind enough to send me on my way with a packet of spaghetti so I felt like it was only fair to share the results!

To get the best taste of the spaghetti itself I decided to do a simple tomato sauce but this evening I couldn't resist eating even more pasta so cooked a 'meatier' version with prawns. I'm sure its not remotely authentic Italian food - you'll have to head to Clapham for that! - but it was delicious and the bite of the pasta definitely made a difference. I think I may have even been converted to Rummo.

 Spaghetti with slow cooked tomato sauce

1 red onion, roughly chopped
2 large garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
Punnet of good quality tomatoes, organic if possible
Dried basil
Dried chilli flakes
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
Marsala wine, if needed

Fresh basil to finish

Fresh grated parmesan to finish

Heat the oil in a frying pan and add the onion and garlic with a good pinch of salt, fry until soft.

Add the tomatoes, dried basil, chilli flakes and cover.

Leave to cook down for a while, if the tomatoes are not that ripe add a small splash of Marsala to sweeten them, if not using wine then add a splash of water.

Cook on a low heat with a cover on for as long as you can bear, I cooked these tomatoes for about 40 minutes whole then blitzed and returned to the pan with a bit of water and cooked for a further hour.

When you're happy with your tomato sauce you can get your pasta on - cook according to packet instructions (9 minutes in this case). I've been strictly told you need to time this to get true al dente pasta and it did work perfectly so I'm not going to deviate from instructions.

Once the timer has gone drain your pasta reserving a bit of water in case your sauce is too thick.

Add the pasta to the warm pan of sauce along with the fresh basil, adjust of flavouring and toss the pasta through the sauce ensuring everything is evenly coated.

Plate up and cover with lots of freshly grated parmesan cheese.

I also did another version of this dinner tonight, almost exactly as above but instead of fresh tomatoes I used tinned and I skipped the wine.
Once I'd blitzed the sauce and returned to the pan I added chopped roasted pepper and some big fat prawns - I always use frozen but if you can get good fresh ones then this will be even better!
Cover and allow the prawns to cook while you do your pasta.
Again the rest of the instructions would be as above - the perfect super fast recipe for a delicious midweek supper!