How To Cook The Perfect Italian Tomato Sauce _ MasterChef New Zealand _ MasterChef World

OK .

So we all know the classic spaghetti and meatballs .

But what do you think it is ?

It's spaghetti and meatballs , but it's not just spaghetti and meatballs .

It's about the pasta , it's about the sauce and it's about the meatballs and there's only three main components that make up what it is .

So you better believe that those three components should be perfect .

In essence , they should be utterly full of flavor and anything less than that ruins the entire dish .

And yet people are sitting back and enjoying a plate of spaghetti and meatballs that subpar when you don't even realize that you're ruining your life .

Disgusting , you should be ashamed .

But today we're gonna fix that .

So with all that said , let's make this , shall we ?

We've had this discussion before ?

Oh , Josh's homemade pasta cheaper or store bought pasta cheaper .

Look , here's the short answer , but kind of long .

Yes , you can get your flour , your eggs , mix them together and that dough is less expensive than buying pasta .

But unless you have the buying power to get yourself a pasta roller with the spaghetti attachment , you're going to be hard pressed for it to be very good .

So if that's an issue to you , then I would advise you to go to the store on that one , but it'd be a whole lot cooler if you made your own .

Also .

So I ended up with 19 .

Good job .

Josh .

Those meaty men into nice balls .

Now get yourself a large saute pan , heat it over medium high with just enough oil to cook the bottom of the pan .

And once it's hop hop , add all your meatballs in a single layer .

So it's not overcrowded and sear for about two minutes .

Flip and sear on one or two more sides until you get some browning all over .

Now , they like they are still a little raw on the inside .

That's good .

We don't want them cooked all the way through yet .

So stay calm .

Place your balls on a plate or the meatballs on a plate .

Reduce you to medium at four cloves of thinly sliced garlic .

Saute for about a minute or fragrant , then add one teaspoon of red pepper flakes , saute that for 30 seconds .

Then add 1 20 ounce can of crushed tomatoes .

Stir everything together , season a taste of salt and just a pinch of sugar to curb its acidic qualities .

Then add your meatballs , bring to a simmer over medium heat , reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 5 to 8 minutes .

Now , halfway through that , you're gonna add one bunch of basil that's been lightly bruised and of course , let it continue to finish cooking until your meatballs are cooked through and the sauce is slightly reduced .

Now , at this point , you need to make sure that your sauce is seasoned perfectly with salt .

You always need more than you think .

Ok .

So you got your sauced up .

Some additional sauce optionally , you get that with some fresh grated pecorino or Parmesan or well , more specifically for about cheaper Parmesan and finally , some chiffon fresh basil .

This is a lot of pasta .

So let's say this makes about five generous servings , but you could easily serve more if the portions are smaller .

I actually made this a smaller serving for the sake of presentation .

So expect a serving to be much larger than this and more specifically for this price , bro .

I mean , look , if that doesn't get you going , then this tasting probably will .

I didn't really think that through when I played in this , get on over there .

You funny man , this much per bowl .

Come on , this is a generous bowl .

But come on , this is how much is left dude , you paid as much for this as one little plate .

So I think we should obviously try a meatball by itself .

Oh my Lord .

This ball in my mouth , I'm about to bust .

You always need to do our uh mics a little far away .

I'm just gonna , it's OK .

I'll walk over .

It's OK .

It's , it's I want a lady in the tramp .

This somebody hold one of these balls while I kiss with the spaghetti .

But cheaper or not .

This is a perfect bowl of spaghetti and meatballs from top to bottom .

This spaghetti cooked perfectly .

It's got that chew to it .

The sauce a little spicy or not too much .

I'm tired of people doing .

Oh I'm gonna put an eight teaspoon of red pepper flakes .

Why don't you just relax for a second .

Take a step back and realize that you should never do that .

You're doing nothing .

You're pretending that you like it's OK .

Just don't put any .

This is perfect but cheaper or not .

And the price is ridiculously low .

You don't even have to make your own pasta you could be enjoying the best bowl of spaghetti and meatballs of your entire life for the cheapest you will in your entire life .

What more could you possibly want ?

Story has been foretold brother .

You want to know what else has Papa's red hot saucy , meaty meatballs glistening in front of your eyes .

Be roll .

Yeah , you've eaten dishes where you've fried the onion and it's still crunchy .

I don't want any crunch in this onion .

I want this onion to be melted .

Right .

This is almost ready for the next thing .

Which is the tomatoes .

Now , don't be perturbed by the amount of oil in there and don't think about cutting it down .

We'll put that in there .

So that's two cans of crushed Italian tomatoes to stir up .

Bring it back to the boil plenty of this in there as well .

Got two sorts of tomato things going on here .

Cans which are real tomatoes sitting in juice .

So they , they got a nice tomato flavor and this stuff , this is pure tomatoes which have been dried out so that they get thick and pasty in places like Sicily Calabria .

You can see in the summer time , big sort of big plates outside with this tomato paste drying in the sun .

OK ?

So we made our spet , let's just be honest , it was perfectly executed .

It looks stunning .

The sauce glistening the balls rotund , the spaghetti .

But a so what more can I say ?

And for such a simple price of this much per serving ?

I mean , that's a pretty gosh thing .

Look at that .

Wow .

Look at doing a little dance .

Wow .

What do we learn ?

Something doesn't need to be expensive to be delicious and beautiful and that's how it always has been on this show .

So with all that said , if you enjoyed this video or you're learning sudden leave a like , subscribe and I will see you next time .

I'm gonna move the dang road .

That's what it is .

I'm gonna call the state and I'll be like move this road somewhere else .

I'm gonna use it for pasta and you see the size of the pot , you need a really big pot for pasta filled right up because the , the pasta's gonna have lots of room to swim .

You don't want it all jammed up , stuck together like that .

And the other thing is , does anybody know what pasta water is supposed to taste like ?

It needs to be as salty as the Mediterranean , salty as the Mediterranean , which is a very salty sea .

So , um , I'm gonna put some salt into that water .

Ok .

Stir it up and have a little taste no enough .

So I know people freak out when you do this , but don't worry if you don't do that when you're cooking pasta , if you don't have that water properly seasoned , when you cook the pasta , it's gonna taste like you made porridge without salt or you're eating a boiled egg with no salt you know , completely lacking .

Alright , let's just see if this tastes right honest , then it's got to taste like you .

You think about when you swallow a mouth full of salt water , but when you're swimming , it's really salty .

So this , this makes the pasta taste good .

Don't put olive oil in the water .

How incredibly wasteful because what are you gonna do with this water ?

Tip it down the sink with your olive oil ?

If you're worried about your pasta sticking together because you've got to keep it for a little while after you've cooked it , put the pasta into a bowl and put the olive oil on the pasta , toss it up and it'll stop it sticking and you get to eat the olive oil , which is really good .

Olive oil is expensive .

You know , it's one of those things that , that you treasure .

So don't waste your olive oil by putting it in the water .

If you're worried about the pasta sticking , when you put it in the water , you got to stand there and stir it until it comes back to the boil .

Once it's boiling , it won't stick .

So it's time to put some pasta on briskly boiling pasta water .

There , we know it's salty enough and I've got some thin spaghetti here .

Put that in there and stir it , just keep it moving until it comes back to the boil .

How will I know when this is cooked ?

Anyone know ?

How do you tell when pasta is cooked , you take it out and bite it , you bite it , you taste it .

Yeah .

It's gotta be al dente , which means tender to the bite a little bit of resistance .

You don't want it completely mushy and you don't want it raw .

Obviously , our Italian zite is just a little bit rawr than Kiwis like it .

But you have to taste it to find out .

You know , that idea that some people think , you know , it's cooked .

If you throw it in the fridge and it sticks , don't do that .

It's a lot of rubbish .

The difference in the flavor of the pasta .

If you salt the water properly is quite extraordinary .

It makes such a difference to your whole dish and it's not pasta until it's got the sauce on it and it's mixed up , then it's pasta .

If you're having lunch with Italians or having a meal with Italians , they always put the pasta into a big bowl and the sauce and it's always stirred up often at the table , but it's always stirred up before you even get it .

Right .

That's boiling .

That's simmering .

That's just about done .

See the color of this sauce .

That's what it should be like .

You know , you get those insipid sort of vaguely pale orange tomato sauces , horrible , horrible things cook like , you mean it , everything should have very clear flavors .

It should be thick and jammy .

It should be like jam , it should be like chutney you know , shouldn't be in any way watery .

You don't want that at all .

Otherwise when you eat it , especially if it's on pasta , you're gonna find that watery residue at the bottom of the plate , which you don't want that at all .

It's got a little bit of oil floating on the top .

That's fine .

Not worried about that at all .

I'm gonna taste it though because I want , I want to season it .

Make sure it has enough salt .

Mm It's good but it needs that magic ingredient soaked .

It's good .

Luckily this is just about cook .

So let's find out uh you may not want to do it like this .

Their hands , but the nerve endings went years ago , you can just see a little tiny , tiny white core in there .

And to me , by the time I've wrangled that out of the pot into the colander , out of the colander , got the sauce sorted out .

This is gonna be just , it's gonna be fine .

Right .

Let's get this out of here .

If I was serving this , I'd have two bowls .

So I have the bowl to mix it in , in the bowl to serve it and just put a little bit in and some sauce .

So this pasta is ready to eat .

Serve it up and a pasta bowl .

Get yourself a micro plain or a good grater .

Put a little bit of parmesan on it .

That's nice .

We could just put some basil on that though , couldn't we ?

So , just some basil leaves and the heat of that , I can smell the basil already .

To me that's a meal glass of red wine .

It's a great meal .