Prep time: 30 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Total time: 1 hour

Serves 4-6

INGREDIENTS

For the pasta:

• 2 eggs
• 1 egg yolk 
• 500 ml (2 cups) flour 
• 10 ml (2 tsp) salt 
• 60 ml (¼ cup) extra virgin olive oil
• 50 ml (3 Tbsp + 1 tsp) cold water

For the tangy Napolitana sauce:

• 50 g brown sugar 
• 3 sprigs of thyme 
• 400 g Rosa tomatoes 
• 1 red chilli 
• 3 cloves garlic 
• 100 g parmesan shavings
• 50 ml good quality extra virgin olive oil
• 50 g sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
• 30 g baby capers 
• 75 g kalamata olives, pitted
• 10 g fresh basil 

METHOD

For the pasta:

Season the flour and mix thoroughly. Make a well in the centre and add the eggs, egg yolk and olive oil. Using a fork, whisk the egg and olive oil, slowly adding bits of flour. Once combined, use your hand or a dough mixer and knead the dough till it’s combined and has a good elasticity. If your thumbprint pops back out slowly after pressing the dough, you know you have a good dough on your hands. Rest the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes before rolling out. 

You can decide the shape you want to have. For a saucy pasta like this, I would prefer a linguine or a tagliatelle, but you can even do spaghetti. Using your pasta roller, set the machine to your desired thickness. I start off with a 5 mm setting working my way down to 2 mm. I make sure that I use the machine to lengthen and work the dough to a nice velvety texture, ensuring a nice firm pasta. 

Cut the pasta the minute you have the thickness you enjoy and hang in a dry yet cool space for a minimum of 30 minutes. Boil water with salt and olive oil. PS: taste that the water is nice and salty before dropping in your pasta. 

Fresh pasta only needs to boil for 4 minutes to be perfect and al dente. 

For the tangy Napolitana sauce:

Heat up a saucepan on medium heat. Add brown sugar and, once it starts to melt, add in the thyme. 

In a blender or food processor blend the Rosa tomatoes, chilli, garlic and half the Parmesan cheese with a drizzle of good quality extra virgin olive oil. 

Add the sundried-tomatoes and cook for 10 to 15 minutes till thickened. Season with salt and black pepper, to taste. Once the sauce coats the back of a spoon, add in the cooked pasta, capers and olives. 

Serve with shaved Parmesan and fresh basil.

Thank you to Chef Ammaarah Peterson for this recipe