Creamy Tomato Pasta with Mozzarella

Ingredients

• 400g penne
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• 500ml passata
• 120ml double cream
• 0.5 tsp caster sugar
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 250g mozzarella pearls, drained
• 80g baby spinach
• 15g basil, torn
• 40g Parmesan, finely grated
• salt and black pepper to taste
• ciabatta, to serve
• mixed green salad, to serve

Method

1. Warm the olive oil in a large, deep frying pan over a medium heat. Add the onion with a pinch of salt and cook for 6 to 7 minutes until soft, translucent and just starting to catch gold at the edges.
2. Add the sliced garlic and cook for 30 seconds, just until fragrant — pale gold, no further. Burnt garlic turns the whole sauce bitter, so watch it. Stir in the tomato puree and cook for another minute until it darkens a shade and smells sweet rather than sharp.
3. Pour in the passata with a splash of water to loosen — the liquid is what breaks the tomatoes down so they taste of fruit, not tin. Simmer for 8 to 10 minutes until the sauce has tightened slightly and tastes rounded rather than raw. Taste; if the tomatoes are sharp, stir in the sugar.
4. Stir in the cream and dried basil and bring back to a gentle simmer for 3 to 4 minutes until the sauce coats the back of a spoon in a silky pink veil. Season boldly with salt and black pepper now — the pasta will mute it, so push further than feels polite.
5. Meanwhile, salt the pasta water generously — it should taste like the sea. This is your only chance to season the pasta itself. Cook the penne until a minute shy of al dente, scoop out a mugful of the starchy water, then drain.
6. Tip the penne into the sauce with a good splash of the pasta water. Toss over the heat for 1 to 2 minutes until the sauce clings in a creamy coat rather than pooling at the bottom. Fold the spinach through until just wilted, then add the mozzarella pearls and fold once or twice so they soften and string slightly without melting away to nothing. Taste, season, taste again — adjust now, not at the table.
7. Pile the pasta into warm bowls, scatter generously with torn basil and a snowfall of grated Parmesan, and bring the ciabatta and mixed green salad to the table alongside.