Make the most flavoursome tomato sauce ever with Italian chef's top 3 cooking tips

Head Chef at Pasta Evangelists, Roberta d'Elia shared her homemade tomato sauce recipe and cooking tips. "Tomatoes are best fit for cooking when they are slightly over-ripe," she advised, adding that slow-roasting the tomatoes helps to intensify the flavour further.

"For a richer taste, buy (or grow!) your tomatoes fresh and cook them as soon as you have them." And there you have three of her most important tips for making the most flavoursome tomato sauce: cook when overripe; slow-roast the tomatoes; and grow your own. As for her quick and simple recipe, there will be enough for six servings, so it's great to have stored in the fridge for another day.

Tomato sauce

Ingredients

• 1kg vine-ripened tomatoes, removed from vines and halved
• Four cloves garlic, crushed
• Two tsp demerara sugar
• Two 2tbsp tomato purée
• Two tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• Handful fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Preparation
Preheat the oven to 190C. Place the halved tomatoes, cut-side up, in a single layer on a large roasting tin.

Press the garlic cloves into the tomato flesh; then scatter the sugar, salt and pepper over all the tomatoes.

Now spread the tomato puree, using the back of a spoon, onto the tomatoes, and drizzle over olive oil.

Roasting
Roast the tomatoes in the oven for about one hour, but check at the 40-minute mark to check they're not burning.

Once cooked, remove from the oven, scatter over basil, then use a fork to mash the tomatoes.

Now you have a rich and chunky tomato sauce that is the perfect base for a pasta dish, best served with some Parmigiano Reggiano (cheese).