For me there really isn’t anything more therapeutic than preparing a wholesome dish from scratch. This simple dish came together on one of our many rainy days this summer. With supervision, the kids can help. It gets messy but that’s part of the enjoyment. This year we had a bumper crop of tomatoes we had grown in the poly tunnel and this was a perfect way to make them the stand out ingredient in this recipe. This is great way to spend a rainy day with the kids. You can chat with them and ask them whats going on in their little lives. I found out that One Direction actually stink, who’d of thought.

The Ingredients:

12 Tomatoes

Olive Oil

Salt and pepper for seasoning

Dry herbs Basil, Oregano etc

1 tsp smoked paprika

3 Garlic cloves

2 Bay leaves

400g of 00′ Tipo flour

5 eggs

The Make:

Pour flour onto a clean work surface. Make a well in the centre like a mini volcano. Spread a pinch of salt around the flour. Crack the eggs into the centre of the flour. This is where things get messy, use your hands to mix the flour, salt and eggs together. Mix very gently making sure not to allow the eggs spill out over the side. The pasta dough will form the more you knead it. Once you are happy with the consistency of the pasta dough cover it with cling film and set it aside for a couple of hours. Now take a roasting tray and line it with baking paper. Cut the tomatoes in half and place them face down in the tray. Roughly chop the garlic and add this to the tomatoes. Sprinkle a liberal amount of the dry herbs and paprika over the top. Season with salt and pepper and pour over some olive oil. Roast in an oven at 180C until the tomato skin starts to burn. This charred skin will give a smokey flavour to the sauce. Pour the cooked tomato and juices into a blender and blitz. Pass the blended sauce through a sieve into a saucepan. Now you have a rich smooth sauce that you can add meatballs, chicken or some chunky vegetables. The choice is yours.

With the sauce made it’s time to roll out the pasta. Cut small portions of the dough and start to roll it out on a flour dusted surface. Try and roll out the pasta as thin as you can because when it is cooked in water it will plump out. Hang the rolled out pasta over a clean broom handle or over the back of a chair to allow it to dry. Once you have enough pasta rolled out you can start cooking. This fresh pasta cooks a lot quicker than the typical dried pasta so keep an eye on the cooking time. Keep tasting the pasta to see if it is to your liking. When it’s done plate up the dish and Enjoy.