How to prepare tomato and basil pasta at home: the most representative dish of Italy at the table
Spaghetti with tomato and Basil: Today I'll explain all the tricks and secrets to prepare this one perfectly at home recipe identity which is probably the worldwide symbol of Italy at the table. Why the pasta with tomato sauce, in its great simplicity, it is an amazing dish if prepared with homemade fresh tomato sauce in estate, as per tradition, only with tomato, salt and Basil. But it's also delicious if you do with ready-made tomato purees, as long as it is of high quality. Is, when they are in season, I like to enrich spaghetti with tomato and basil with some fresh Pachino tomatoes that I always keep at home and add to the sauce. As well as with fresh basil and obviously Parmigiano Reggiano Dop.
Also remember that this made in Italy recipe also has its own celebration. According to the Food Calendar, in fact, the June 21st the national tomato pasta day, to remember and disseminate the best-known dish of Italian cuisine in all its facets.
Which pasta shape to use to make tomato pasta?
My favorite format for making classic pasta with tomato sauce is obviously spaghetti. And I also mean square spaghetti or those with guitar. While with the short parta I prefer denser and richer sauces like the meat ragout o to traditional Genoese meat and onion dish Neapolitan. In the tomato purée you can add a clove of garlic or a piece of onion, in addition to basil, to delicately perfume it.
Because you don't want to make the sauce too thick
One of the secrets to prepare it perfectly traditional tomato paste recipe is that of avoid shrinking too much tomato sauce. Prepare the sauce in the pan, over low heat and covered. This will allow you not to lose the moisture in the tomato sauce. A sauce that is too dry, Indeed, it will not be able to penetrate the fibers of the pasta. Instead, if he sauce is fluid may thicken during the Creaming some pasta in the pan. And thanks to the spaghetti starch it will take on a super creamy appearance, dense and shiny.
A trick to correct the acidity of the puree
Il flavor of tomato sauce is decisive for the success of this Mediterranean recipe. If you don't prepare the tomato puree yourself in the summer, but use the ready-made ones, I advise you to mix a little’ of fresh tomatoes with strictly Italian and organic tomato puree.
For example, you could use a Pachino PGI tomato sauce of the Piccadilly type and a little’ of fresh cherry tomatoes, always of the piccadilly type. These are tomatoes that have a fair degree of sweetness and moderate acidity. A slow cooking over low heat it will concentrate the sugars of the tomato and will avoid adding the traditional spoonful of sugar to the sauce to correct the acidity of the puree. Also because, let's remember it, lhe characteristic of tomatoes is precisely this acidity, which should not be transformed into an overly sweet taste.
The secret to good creaming
L’Cooking water is another of the decisive elements to make one perfect and creamy tomato pasta. I advise you to take a ladle of cooking water while boiling the pasta. And keep it in a glass. This water, which is rich in starch, it must be added to the pan in which the sauce and pasta will be added for the final creaming phase. This phase will go made over high heat, and accompanied by rapid rotary movements to encourage emulsification between the fats of the tomato sauce and the starches of the pasta. At the end of the creaming, add a little’ of raw olive oil and pieces of basil leaves, to keep the aromatic profiles intact. And now I wish you a good day!
