Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce
Priced at NZ supermarkets
Woolworths$6.60/serve
Pak'nSave$1.21/serve
New World$2.54/serve
Prices from grocer.nz, updated daily. An estimate — the cheapest matching product per ingredient at each store, not one fixed basket, so your actual total may vary by a dollar or two either way.
Ingredients
For 4 serves
- 300 gspaghetti
- 2 tbsp (30g)butter
- 3 (9g)garlic
- ½ (75g)onion
- 240ml (250g)tomato passata
- 185ml (185g)whipping cream
- 120ml (125g)trim milk
- ⅓ cup (30g)parmesan
- 1 tsp (5g)basil
- 0.5 tsp (2g)black pepper
- 1 tsp (5g)salt
- 1.25 tbsp (20g)parsley
Method
- Chop the garlic, chop the onion, then grate the parmesan.
- Cook the spaghetti in a big pot of boiling water for 2 min less than the packet directs. Scoop out a mugful of the pasta water just before draining.cooking guide ↓
Cooking guides
Reference notes for the staples in this recipe — water ratios, timing, and how to tell they’re done.
How to cook spaghetti
- Water
- 1L water per 100g dried pasta (a big pot helps it move freely, but less water works — see source)
- Salt
- About 1 tbsp per 4 qt (3.8L) water (~0.5% by weight — ATK's standard; Serious Eats' saltier-tasting "like the sea" preference runs closer to 1%, about 2 tbsp), added any time before or during boiling — timing makes no real difference to the boil
- Bring the salted water to a boil.
- Add the pasta and stir well for the first 1-2 minutes — this is the only window it can actually stick, while surface starch gelatinises.
- Boil, uncovered, for the stated time (check a strand a minute or two before it's due).
- Reserve a cup of the starchy cooking water before draining — it helps a sauce cling.
- Drain. Do not add oil to the pasta or the water — it prevents sauce from adhering.
Done when: Al dente — tender with a firm bite at the centre when you cut/bite a strand; no white, chalky core
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