Spaghetti with fresh tomato sauce

Bashing tomatoes, chilli, sugar and shallots together in a pestle and mortar helps to bring out the flavours for a delicious no-cook pasta sauce. Make it more indulgent with creamy burrata cheese

Prep:5 mins
Cook:10 mins

Serves 2
Easy

Nutrition per serving

kcal 598
fat 21g
saturates 10g
carbs 78g
sugars 12g
fibre 5g
protein 25g
salt 0.7g

Ingredients

200g spaghetti or linguine
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
2 shallots, finely chopped
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
zest 1 lemon
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tsp caster sugar
300g tomatoes, diced
125g ball mozzarella or burrata (see tip, below), torn into pieces
handful basil leaves, torn, to serve

Tip

Burrata

It’s worth getting hold of burrata – a softer, creamier relative of mozzarella – for this dish. It will go oozingly melty and create a sauce that clings to the pasta.

Method

Cook the pasta following pack instructions. Meanwhile, put the chilli, shallots, oil, lemon zest, vinegar, sugar and tomatoes into a big mortar. If yours isn’t big enough, put it all in a bowl and just use the pestle in that. Add a good amount of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and bash everything together.
Drain the pasta and toss together with the tomato mixture and mozzarella. Scatter over the basil and serve immediately.