Super Simple Tinned Tomato Pasta — a plant-based Italian recipe by BOSH!
Jump to recipeMore Italian recipes →More Dinner recipes →

Super Simple Tinned Tomato Pasta

This Mediterranean tinned tomato pasta is what weeknight cooking should always look like. Twenty minutes, one pan of sauce, and a handful of cupboard staples that somehow taste like you've been slow-cooking all afternoon. The trick is layering: sun-dried tomato oil, capers, balsamic, and a good spoonful of nooch all going in together to build something way deeper than a basic tinned tomato sauce. We finish it with peppery rocket and an extra drizzle of balsamic, and honestly it looks like something you'd order on a terrace somewhere hot. Make this tonight and you'll have it on rotation all summer.

Cook: 20 min
Serves 4

Before You Start

  • Large frying pan with lid
  • Large saucepan
  • Tongs

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp sun-dried tomato oil - from the jar
  • 2 tbsp capers
  • 4 tbsp plant-based pesto
  • 1 tsp garlic purée
  • 2 tbsp tomato purée
  • 2 tbsp Nooch
  • ½ tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tsp garlic purée
  • 2 x 400g can(s) of chopped tomatoes
  • Salt & pepper to taste
  • sugar to taste
  • 500g Mafaldine pasta
  • 50g rocket
  • drizzle of balsamic vinegar
  • nutritional yeast
  • Salt & pepper to taste

Method

1

Start the sauce

  • Finely slice the sun dried tomatoes
  • Warm the olive oil and oil from the jar of sun-dried tomatoes in the frying pan over medium heat
  • Add the capers and sun dried tomatoes to the pan and stir for 1 minute
  • Add the vegan pesto and garlic puree to the pan and stir for 1 minute
2

Prepare the pasta

  • Put the saucepan on the stove, fill with boiling water from the kettle and turn the heat up high
  • Add a big pinch of salt and the mafaldine pasta to the pan and cook according to packet instructions (approx 8 minutes)
3

Finish the sauce

  • Turn up the heat to medium high, add the chopped tomatoes and tomato puree to the pan, stir to combine and put the lid on (leaving a gap for steam to escape) and leave to simmer for 3 minutes
  • Add the nutritional yeast and balsamic vinegar to the pan, stir to combine, put the lid back on and leave to simmer for 3 minutes
  • Taste the sauce, season to perfection and simmer for a further 2 minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure it doesn't catch
4

Time to serve

  • Drain the pasta and transfer to the sauce with tongs
  • Twist the pasta around in the sauce with the tongs, making sure it's well covered
  • Transfer the pasta into serving bowls, dress with rocket, balsamic vinegar, nutritional yeast, salt and pepper and serve immediately

Tips & Variations

  • Taste and balance: Tinned tomatoes vary a lot in sweetness and acidity. Add sugar a pinch at a time and taste as you go rather than dumping it all in at once.
  • Pasta water is your friend: Save a mugful before you drain the pasta. Stir a splash into the sauce to help it cling and go glossy.
  • Nooch at the end too: We stir nooch through the sauce and add a little extra on top when serving. That second hit makes it taste almost cheesy.

Why This Works

Using the oil from the sun-dried tomato jar alongside olive oil is one of those moves that costs nothing but adds a tonne of depth. The nooch and pesto do similar work, rounding off the acidity from the tomatoes without you having to fuss too much with the seasoning. Mafaldine pasta is worth tracking down here because those ruffled edges grip the sauce in a way that smooth pasta just doesn't.