LONDON: Lately I have been thinking about colours and food very much. You know the feeling when you want to get dressed in the morning and you think of a certain colour which suits the mood of your day. Whether it is the colour of your lipstick or your pants, no matter I feel the same with food, especially now as the days are grey. I suppose it is a good thing, aren’t we supposed to eat five different colours a day to get our maximum vitamins in mineral intake?
Today I feel to go for the colour red and a classic recipe comes to my mind: simple tomatoes sauce and as it is winter I mix the fresh ones with a tin of cherry tomatoes to get a sweater taste.
If you do not feel like cooking, have lunch at MASSIMO when you are in London. I suggest you order the Gnocchi con Pesto e Pomodoro (potato dumplings with basil and sun-dried tomatoes ) and ask the Head Chef, Mr. Andrea Cirino, for the homemade sorbet for dessert. I will choose pistachio as green goes perfectly with red.
IRMA’S TOMATO SAUCE
INGREDIENTS: 1 can of cherry tomatoes, a handful of fresh cherry tomatoes, one red pepper, fresh mint and basil leaves, one red onion, ground pepper, Himalayan salt and virgin olive oil.
HOW TO COOK IT: Put some olive oil into a pan, cut the red onion into small pieces and add the salt, pepper and small cut peppers to it. Add the fresh tomatoes after cutting them in small cubes and fry until they are golden red. Add the can of cherry tomatoes with the sugo and let it boil for five minutes (not longer), season with more salt and pepper if needed and serve it with fresh gnocchi or spaghetti. Top the sauce with the fresh mint and basil leaves.