London Pasta Week: Day 1

Turns out London Pasta week is going to have to wait. I renamed it to "London Pasta Fortnight". Too many other arrangements. Day one started well, and I shopped for a pastatastic week. Thankfully I can use the ingredients next week.

Conchiglioni Pasta with Creamy Tomato and Garlic Sauce

Adapted from Waitrose.com

500g sexy cherry tomatoes
A few big spoons of olive oil
3 juicy cloves fresh garlic
500g pack Waitrose Conchiglioni dried pasta
A couple of dollops of half-fat crème fraîche
Handful of fresh basil
Some nice ciabatta
Some nice cheese
Salt and pepper
Serves 4

Mat's adaptation, as requested :)

1) Preheat oven to 180°C / gas mark 4. Get a shallow ovenproof dish thing or perhaps a lid of a pyrex casserole dish. Who cares? Whack those wonderful delicious vine ripened Spanish tomatoes in. They should smell really nice without you having to actually do anything, because you got the really expensive organic ones that Waitrose sell, didn't you? Worth every penny I tell you.

2) Cut the garlic up lengthways into thin strips. Put a load of oil (double the amount shown above, go on!) into a small pudding dish or similar, add freshly ground salt and pepper, then add the garlic. Cut more garlic actually, that would be nice.

3) Pour the oil you just made over the tomatoes in the ovenproof pan contraption you have. Now get involved. Don't hold back. You'll have to spend a long time washing the garlic smell off your hands, and it will be an absolute nightmare getting the oil that practically absorbed into your skin off. But do it, get involved. You probably don't need to, but it's fun. Toss the oil, seasoning, and garlic together with your hands. Hell, add some dried herbs if you like. (Not many, and not strong ones.)

4) Bake the whole lot in the oven - a total of 30+ mins - until they are flaccid with the sheer anticipation of sunny southern Italy. It's all Europe to me. (i.e. until they are plump and almost falling apart, but essentially still intact.)

5) Start getting the other stuff together. The pasta should take approx 15 mins, so aim to have your water boiled up 15-20 mins into the cooking of the tomatoes. Line cutlery up in rows according to length. Exercise your mind. Dust the table. Grate some cheese.

6) Just before you start the pasta going, take the tomatoes out and stir. Then put them back in for the final 15 ish mins. You are now adding the huge pasta shells slowly and in batches, perhaps waiting each time for the water to boil again. No need for adding oil because you are stirring as you add to prevent sticking, and you don't stop stirring until the boiling is underway again. This kind of pasta tends to stick; ensure that shells don't take refuge within other shells. This happens a lot. This can be prevented at the start of the cooking. Add salt to the mix if you like.

7) It should all just come together, relax for 5 mins.

8) Prepare some curly leaf parsley garnish, and shred a good handful of basil. Get the crème fraîche out ready for deployment, in a cute little dish, candles on, etc.

9) There's an intense whaft of garlic in the kitchen. The pasta is done, you know this because you tried it. Drain the pasta (never run hot water over it, this takes essential starches off the pasta that cause the sauce to stick to it retaining the flavour). Put pasta back in pan, then add a huge dollop or two of crème fraîche. Get the oily baked tomatoes out and spoon them into the mix, making sure all garlic gets in too. Add basil, and toss with a wooden spoon.

10) Serve with a hunk of photogenic ciabatta and freshly ground (pestle and mortared, no less) salt and pepper.