Eleven ingredients and half an hour. Nothing in it is difficult; the only thing that matters is the order.
Two kinds of tomato do two different jobs. A tin of crushed tomatoes becomes the sauce over eight minutes of simmering; half a cup of halved cherry tomatoes goes in at the end and stays as pieces.
Why This Recipe Works
- Four garlic cloves in thirty seconds of hot oil flavours the whole sauce before any liquid arrives.
- Eight minutes of simmering takes the raw edge off tinned tomatoes.
- Lowering the heat before the cream goes in stops it splitting against the acid.
- Parmesan melted into an already-simmered sauce turns it the pale orange the finished bowl shows.
- Reserved pasta water loosens the sauce to coating consistency without diluting the flavour.
Ingredient Notes
- Crushed tomatoes
- One 14.5 oz tin. Crushed rather than chopped, so the sauce is smooth after eight minutes rather than chunky.
- Cherry tomatoes
- Half a cup, halved, added with the pasta at the end. They stay whole halves in the finished bowl.
- Heavy cream
- Half a cup, stirred in on lowered heat. Against a tin of tomatoes, that is what turns red into pale orange.
- Fresh basil
- A third of a cup of leaves, added after the heat. Whole leaves rather than chopped.
How to Make It
Penne, and keep the water
Cook penne in salted water until al dente; reserve 1/2 cup pasta water.
Garlic in oil
Heat olive oil over medium heat and cook garlic 30 seconds.
Simmer the tomatoes eight minutes
Add crushed tomatoes, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes; simmer 8 minutes.
Cream and Parmesan, heat down
Lower heat and stir in cream and Parmesan to create a pale orange sauce.
Pasta and cherry tomatoes
Add penne and cherry tomatoes and toss, adding pasta water as needed.
Basil and pepper
Finish with fresh basil and black pepper.
From Red to Pale Orange
The colour of the finished bowl is a record of the order this sauce was built in. Every layer changes it, and one of them can only go in once the pan has cooled slightly.
Aromatic
30 seconds4 garlic cloves, minced, in 1 tbsp olive oil over medium heat
Four cloves is a lot for one tin of tomatoes, and that is deliberate - the dish is named for it. Thirty seconds in oil before any liquid is what makes it taste of garlic rather than of raw garlic.
Body, and time
Simmer 8 minutes1 can (14.5 oz) crushed tomatoes, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp black pepper, 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
Eight minutes of simmering. This is the only genuinely unhurried part of a thirty-minute recipe, and it is where tinned tomatoes lose their metallic edge and thicken into a sauce.
Softening - on LOWER heat
Heat lowered before the cream1/2 cup heavy cream and 1/3 cup grated Parmesan
The pale orange. The heat comes down first, because cream stirred into a hard simmer of acidic tomatoes can split - and the Parmesan melts more smoothly into a sauce that is no longer boiling.
Texture
12 oz cooked penne and 1/2 cup halved cherry tomatoes, with reserved pasta water as needed
The second kind of tomato, in at the end so it stays as visible halves rather than dissolving. The starchy pasta water is what brings the sauce to coating consistency without watering it down.
Then taste1/3 cup of fresh basil leaves and more black pepper, off the heat. Both are on top of the finished bowl rather than stirred through it.
Success Tips
- Give the crushed tomatoes their full eight minutes before anything creamy joins them.
- Turn the heat down before the cream goes in.
- Add the pasta water a splash at a time; it is easy to overshoot.
Serving Ideas
Four white bowls of penne in the pale orange tomato-cream sauce, with the halved cherry tomatoes through it, fresh basil leaves on top and black pepper over that.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will the cream curdle against the tomatoes?
Not if the heat is lowered first, which is why step 4 says so. Cream added to a hard simmer of acidic tomatoes can split.
Why two kinds of tomato?
The tin becomes the sauce; the cherry tomatoes stay as visible pieces. They are doing different jobs and go in at different times.
How is this different from the creamy tomato tortellini?
That one is a slow-cooker dish built on cheese tortellini and vegetable broth. This is a thirty-minute stovetop penne.
