Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce and Cherry Tomatoes

This is a quick dish, so I won’t go on at length. It’s already well past midnight, and I’ve actually made it for tomorrow. Another day that looks set to run from morning until night, so I need something to keep me going.

The dish — or simply spaghetti, really — is incredibly simple, but filling and, above all, tasty. It’s vegan too, so apparently (or so I’ve heard) it’s healthier. And Italian, so it brings back memories of the recent winter holiday and skiing. Perfect.

Not to mention that it really is quick to prepare: 20 minutes at the absolute most. I make it for myself, spicy, and for Ninka, mild and without parsley. Interestingly, although Ninka has recently fallen out of love with green pesto (she eats it, but not with the same enthusiasm as until recently), she liked this pasta. Perhaps because it has a distinct flavour from the garlic, yet is slightly sweet too. I really recommend it when you don’t have time to make something “bigger” but don’t want to fill up on just anything 😉

At a glance:

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Serves: 2 people

How many calories: just right for a little lunch

Ingredients for the simplest spaghetti with tomato sauce:

• two small handfuls of spaghetti (that’s the long pasta; a small handful per person. As you can see in the photos, I used black spaghetti coloured with cuttlefish ink 🙂
• 8 cherry tomatoes (as sweet as possible)
• 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 2 shallots
• olive oil
• 2 teaspoons of sugar
• salt
• ground black pepper
• dried sweet (or hot, if you prefer spicy food) red paprika
• dried herbes de Provence
• fresh parsley (optional; you don’t have to add it)

How to make tomato spaghetti:

This is the simplest recipe ever; you just have to do a bit of stirring. First, I cooked the spaghetti in a tall saucepan. That takes 10 minutes, which is included in the preparation time because I got the other ingredients ready while it cooked. I peeled the garlic and shallots and diced them, not too finely. I also got the remaining ingredients ready so they’d be close at hand — or close at saucepan, really 😉 I gently cut the cherry tomatoes in half.

After 10 minutes, I drained the pasta, gave the saucepan a quick rinse with water and wiped it with a paper towel so it was completely dry. I poured about a tablespoon of olive oil into the pan and heated it. I added the chopped garlic and shallots to the hot oil. I stirred to keep them from burning, then added a teaspoon of sugar and a little salt. I kept stirring.

After 2–3 minutes, still stirring, I added two tablespoons of tomato paste, another teaspoon of salt and the remaining seasonings, judging by eye and to taste, but not too much. That’s ground black pepper, ground red paprika (sweet when I make the mild version for Ninka, hot when it’s just for me), dried herbes de Provence and chopped parsley — in my version, of course. Still stirring, I added about a tablespoon of water and waited for the sauce to reduce a little. It mustn’t be too watery.

I added the pasta to the prepared sauce and mixed it in. Finally, I added the cherry tomatoes and stirred again. Another tablespoon of olive oil, another light sprinkling of salt and… another stir. The spaghetti with a delicate, simple tomato sauce and sweet cherry tomatoes is ready. Enjoy!

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