Recipe
Black Garlic & Tomato Pasta Sauce
A rich tomato pasta sauce built from roasted cherry tomatoes, black garlic and gentle herbs, with a mellow savoury depth and enough freshness for weeknight bowls of pasta.
Ingredients
Method
10 mins prep40 mins cook50 mins total
Heat the oven to 160°C fan. Put the halved cherry tomatoes on a baking tray, toss with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, the dried herbs, salt and pepper, then roast for 30 minutes.
While the tomatoes roast, warm the remaining olive oil in a heavy-based pan over a low to medium heat. Add the onion and celery, season lightly, and cook gently until softened without browning.
Stir in the passata, tomato purée and black garlic paste. Crumble in the stock cube, bring the sauce to a gentle simmer and cook until it has reduced by roughly a quarter; avoid a rapid boil.
Tip the roasted tomatoes and their tray juices into the pan, stir carefully and simmer for a few more minutes. Toss the sauce through cooked pasta, loosening it with pasta water if necessary.
Notes
Reserve any concentrated juices left on the roasting tray and loosen the sauce with them or a splash of pasta water.
Cool leftovers promptly, refrigerate in a covered container and use within 3 days; reheat until piping hot.
About this recipe
This tomato pasta sauce takes a little extra time at the start to roast the cherry tomatoes, concentrating their sweetness and giving the finished sauce a rounded, almost jammy character. Black garlic brings a soft balsamic depth, while passata keeps the texture smooth and spoonable.
The sauce is built in two stages: soften the onion and celery gently, then reduce the tomato base before folding in the roasted tomatoes and their tray juices. That final addition keeps the flavour bright as well as savoury. Serve with pasta, adjusting the consistency with a little pasta water if needed.
