Anyone who is familiar with pasta will tell you that once cooked, pasta needs a sauce for flavouring. Otherwise, consuming what is essentially a paste of wheat flour and water tends to taste a little bland.

The following recipe for spaghetti sauce is one of the most famous, having been featured in the 1972 motion picture, The Godfather. It will yield enough sauce for 8-10 servings of pasta. Chefs may assign the resulting dish any of the following names:

• Spaghetti Coppola (after the director of the film, Francis Ford Coppola)

• Spaghetti Puzo (after the writer of the script, Mario Puzo)

• Spaghetti Castellano (after the actor who explained how to cook the sauce, Richard S Castellano)

• Spaghetti Coppolapuzo (after both the director and the writer)

Ingredients

• 2 14oz tins whole tomatoes or 12 Roma or plum tomatoes, chopped
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 cloves of garlic, crushed and chopped finely
• 2 small tins or 1 large tin tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon each basil and oregano (not seen in the movie, but useful nonetheless)
• 1lb/500g meat, either cooked sausages, sliced, or meatballs
• 2 tablespoons dry red table wine
• 1/4 cup sugar

Method

1. In a large pot or metal casserole dish, heat up the oil over medium heat and cook the garlic.

2. Add the tomatoes. Cook until soft.

3. Stir in the tomato paste, basil and oregano.

4. Add the meat. Stir until the meat is thoroughly coated.

5. Stir in the wine and sugar.

6. Reduce heat to low to medium-low and let simmer for at least 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

7. Ladle over large bowls filled with cooked spaghetti, toss in each bowl and serve.

This is a basic sauce which lends itself to a variety of personal tastes. For example, some people prefer adding a tin of chopped anchovies along with the garlic, to add body. Others may use beefsteak tomatoes (which are rounder and more acidic than Romas) and either double the sugar or add a grated carrot to cut the sourness.