YOUR PROG CHEF: ANNA MURPHY (CELLAR DARLING)

On the menu: Spaghetti Al Psychedelia (Spaghetti With Tomato Sauce)

“I began cooking properly when I was about 18 or 19 years old, using dishes my grandmother and mother had made. My mother wrote down all her recipes in a book and gave it to me on one of my birthdays. Another big inspiration was wanting to adopt a healthier lifestyle. I like making healthy dishes with lots of vegetables and lentils, chickpeas or quinoa, but occasionally I’ll cook something heavy like Cordon Bleu — meat stuffed with cheese and ham and coated in breadcrumbs.

I’ve been making this spaghetti dish for ages but it was through a psychedelic accident that I recently discovered that cooking the sauce for six hours makes it so much better!”

Ingredients (serves 2-4)

1 tbsp olive oil, 5 tbsp tomato paste, 500g-1kg mixed tomatoes (chopped), 1-3 cloves garlic, 1-2 hot chilli peppers, 25g packet fresh basil, salt and pepper (to taste), dried spelt or wheat spaghetti (75-100g per person), dash of red wine, parmigiano or parmesan cheese (grated).

Preparation

Over a medium heat, warm the olive oil in a large pan and add the tomato paste; allow to cook for 1 minute to release the sweetness. Meanwhile, finely chop the garlic and chilli peppers and add to the pan. Reduce the heat and leave to simmer until the paste thickens and the garlic starts to brown. Add the tomatoes and turn up the heat; leave to cook for about 15 minutes, stirring. Allow the sauce to simmer over a low heat for 4-6 hours, occasionally stirring in more tomato paste to thicken. The longer it simmers, the better, but make sure it doesn’t burn.

In the meantime, do something to distract yourself for a few hours!

Ten minutes from the end of cooking, fill a separate pan with boiling water. Cook the spaghetti over a medium heat, drain, and add a little olive oil to prevent sticking. you could use regular wheat spaghetti if you prefer.

Once the sauce is almost ready, chop about half the basil and add to the pan, reserving some of the leaves to garnish. Stir in the salt, pepper and wine. Remove from the hob and serve with the drained spaghetti, grated cheese and reserved basil leaves.

“Everybody loves spaghetti but the best thing about this sauce is that you can play around with the ingredients. for example, try adding black olives for extra tanginess.”