To understand how to make pasta and a simple pasta sauce
To learn about different types of pasta and where it comes from
To make Classic tomato spaghetti
Boiling
Simmering
Chopping
Cooking pasta
Seasoning
Read through lesson plan and narrative in full
Read through recipe in full
Print one copy of recipe per pupil
Gather ingredients and equipment needed for the Classic tomato spaghetti recipe
Source a selection of different pasta shapes
1 Welcome children to classroom
2 Introduce learning intentions
3 Introduce pasta: explain what pasta is made of, where it comes from and the difference
between dried and fresh varieties
4 Recap rules and get ready to cook
5 Introduce key ingredients for tomato sauce: tomatoes, garlic, basil and onion
6 Divide class into two groups to prepare the ingredients
7 While onions are frying, get children to pick basil leaves and chop the stalks
8 Add basil stalks and garlic to onions, then add tomatoes and vinegar and season sauce
9 Chop basil leaves and discuss different herbs and flavours that could be added to sauce
instead
10 Put pasta water on to boil, explaining why it’s important to salt the water
11 Turn sauce down to simmer and recap the difference between boiling and simmering
12 Discuss different pasta shapes and which sauces they are best teamed with
13 Add spaghetti to the water and explain meaning of “al dente”
14 Grate Parmesan cheese
15 Set the table
16 Work together to tidy kitchen
17 Drain pasta and assemble Classic tomato spaghetti, before serving
Pasta
Spaghetti
Boiling
Simmering
Al dente
Seasoning
Kitchen Garden Project is an activity within the Jamie Oliver Food Foundation, registered charity number – 1094536
D&T
History
Design your own pasta shape – give the shape a name and create a dish showcasing the new
pasta
Research what the Etruscans ate – how is it different from modern Italian food?
Kitchen Garden Project is an activity within the Jamie Oliver Food Foundation, registered charity number – 1094536
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We’re going to be transporting ourselves to Italy with the recipes we’re cooking today.
Try to imagine all the different foods that we associate with Italy. Who would like to share
what they’re thinking about? Pasta, pizza, risotto etc.
In today’s lesson we’re going to make a Classic tomato spaghetti. We’re going to take
advantage of the beautifully fresh late-summer tomatoes to create a simple sauce that
uses three key ingredients in Italian cooking. While the sauce is bubbling away, we’ll be
learning what it means to cook pasta “al dente,” and then we’ll have a taste.
Let’s start by talking a little bit about pasta. Put your hand up if you like pasta. What do
you like on your pasta? Who likes tomato sauce? Has anyone ever had pesto? How about
meat sauces like Bolognese or creamy dishes like macaroni cheese? How about pasta
shapes – what different shapes of pasta do you like to eat?
Discuss with the children their experiences of eating and cooking pasta. Pass a few
pieces of different-shaped pasta around for the children to look at.
Does anyone know what pasta is made from? Dried pasta, like our spaghetti, is made from
flour and water. You can also make fresh pasta using flour and eggs. People tend to think
that fresh pasta is better because it’s more expensive, but the truth is that they’re just
different.
Traditionally, dried pasta is made in southern Italy and fresh pasta is made in the north.
Looking at this map, can someone point to a city where they might make fresh pasta?
Milan, Torino, Genoa etc. How about cities where the pasta would traditionally be dry?
Naples, Sicily, Bari etc.
The Etruscans, who were the ancestors of the Romans, first started making pasta as
early as 400 BC. It was an amazing discovery – that by adding a bit of water to wheat
flour, rolling it into shapes and drying it in the sun, they were able to create an amazingly
versatile food that could be stored and eaten at times when there wasn’t much other food
available.
For centuries, Italians have been very good at making the most out of ingredients they
have to hand, creating a thriving food culture with the simplest ingredients. It’s a great
example of how, with a little imagination, even the most basic ingredients can become
beautiful meals to feed your friends and family.
In Italy there are thousands of different pasta shapes, and lots of different opinions on
which shapes work best with different dishes. Traditionally, dried pastas are combined
with oil or tomato-based sauces, and vegetables or fish.
Fresh pasta, on the other hand, is normally served with richer sauces, made from cream,
butter, cheese or meat. Even though Italians invented pasta and made up these rules, even
they don’t always stick to them. So don’t get too worried about it – if you like it, it works.
We’re going to start by making our tomato sauce, that way we can leave it to tick away on
the hob while we learn a bit more about spaghetti and how to cook pasta.
Let’s get read to cook!
Kitchen Garden Project is an activity within the Jamie Oliver Food Foundation, registered charity number – 1094536
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Children get ready to cook.
Roll up sleeves
Tie hair back
Remove jewellery
Put aprons on
Wash hands
Cover the key rules for the kitchen, suggesting ideas if the children aren’t heading in the
right direction.
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Can anyone guess what the key ingredients are for our classic, fresh tomato sauce?
Tomato, basil and garlic. Tomatoes, basil and garlic are three key ingredients in Italian
cookery and they work together in all sorts of classic recipes.
Pass around the basil, tomato and garlic so the children can touch and smell them.
Who can think of some dishes where these might be used together? Basil and tomatoes
are best friends, and for centuries gardeners have been growing them next to each other
because they help each other to grow. Tomatoes are treated like a vegetable, but they’re
actually a fruit. They first arrived in Europe from South America in the 16th century, but
they were originally yellow and as small as cherries. The Italians and the French fell in
love with them and called them “golden apples” or “pomme d’oro”, leading to the name
“pomodoro” that we associate with tomato sauce today.
The other ingredient that we’re going to use in our sauce is this: hold up an onion. Who
knows what this is? Onions are the most widely eaten vegetable in the world, but they’re
rarely the hero ingredient of a dish. In the UK we use them in our cooking all the time, but
as more of a base for sauces, soups, stews or risottos. We’re going to chop the onion and
fry it with a bit of olive oil to release all those lovely smells and get the flavours started for
our sauce. After that, we’ll build up the flavours by adding the garlic and basil stalks, and
finally the tomatoes, with a bit of red wine or balsamic vinegar to help them along.
Let’s split into groups to prepare our ingredients so that we can get our sauce going. We
need Group 1 to carefully peel and slice the onion and garlic, and Group 2 to chop the
tomatoes. We’re using fresh tomatoes today but it’s worth remembering that you can
easily use tinned tomatoes in this recipe too and it’ll still taste delicious.
Divide the children into two groups. Get the groups to prepare the ingredients under
supervision, demonstrating clearly yourself before letting the children have a go. Collect the
prepared ingredients into different mixing bowls, and regroup by the hob.
We’re going to start our sauce by putting a large frying pan onto a medium heat. We need
someone to measure out 1 tablespoon of olive oil to go into the pan, and then we’ll add the
chopped onion.
Get one of the children to measure out the oil and add to pan with the chopped onions.
While we let the onions cook, let’s pick the leaves from our bunch of basil, then finely chop
the stalks. We should take care not to brown the onions too much as it’ll make the sauce
taste bitter – they’re ready when they’re nice and soft and you can see through them.
Kitchen Garden Project is an activity within the Jamie Oliver Food Foundation, registered charity number – 1094536
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Distribute the basil and get the children to pick the leaves and finely chop the stalks. Let
the onion cook for about 7 minutes, or until soft and lightly golden. Show the children what
the onions look like once they’ve softened, then get the children to add the garlic and finely
chopped basil stalks. After a few minutes, add the chopped tomatoes, then measure and
add 1 tablespoon of vinegar.
Let’s season our sauce with a tiny pinch of salt and pepper and let the tomatoes break
down. We’re going to roughly chop the picked basil leaves and add them to the pan once
the tomatoes have softened, then reduce the heat and leave it to cook.
Get the children to chop the basil leaves, reserving a few baby ones to garnish.
What other herbs could we add to our sauce to change the flavour? Can you think of
different herbs that might be nice? What about other ingredients that we could stir in?
Baby spinach, chopped rocket leaves, fresh or frozen peas.
While our tomatoes continue to cook down, let’s put our pasta water on to boil. The first
big tip for cooking pasta is to make sure we have enough water for the pasta to cook in and
not stick to the pan. We’re going to carefully fill a large pot three-quarters of the way up
with water and bring it to the hob.
Get two children to work together to fill the pot and carefully carry it to the hob.
The next big tip for cooking pasta is to add a tiny pinch of salt to our pasta water. You can’t
season pasta properly after it cooks because it needs to absorb the seasoning while it’s
cooking. Also, the salt helps stop the pasta breaking down and sticking together.
Get one of the children to add a tiny pinch of salt to the pasta water.
We now need to bring the water to a nice fast boil before we add the spaghetti. Who can
tell the class how we know when the water is boiling? Nice big bubbles breaking on the
surface.
Let’s check on our sauce to see how our tomatoes are getting on. Can someone give it a
stir? We can add our basil leaves now to add another layer of flavour to the sauce.
Get the children to stir through the chopped basil leaves.
Now that the tomatoes have started to break down, we need to turn the heat down and
just let it simmer away. Who knows what simmering means? Simmering is when the water
is just about to break into a boil.
Lower the heat and show the children what the sauce looks like once it’s reduced to a
simmer – if the sauce starts to stick, reduce the heat further and add a splash of water.
Now that the sauce is simmering and we’re waiting for the pasta water to boil, let’s look at
some different pasta shapes and talk about the spaghetti that we’re using today. Differentshaped pastas work with different classic sauces. Long, round pastas like spaghetti are
best with olive oil and tomato-based sauces, which coat each strand evenly. Wide, flat
pastas like pappardelle are good for carrying creamy sauces – generally, the wider the
noodle, the heavier the sauce. Pasta shapes that are hollow are best with ragù or meaty
sauces because the holes can catch the meat. Other pasta, such as rigatoni and fusilli, have
ridges which can trap chunkier sauces.
Kitchen Garden Project is an activity within the Jamie Oliver Food Foundation, registered charity number – 1094536
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Have different-shaped pastas on hand for children to look at – good examples are fusilli,
lasagne sheets, penne, farfalle and, of course, spaghetti.
The names of different types of pasta in Italian are all descriptions of their shapes. Today
we’re cooking spaghetti. By looking at the shape of pasta can we think of what the word
“spaghetti” might mean in Italian?
“Spaghetti” means thin strings or twine. Other examples are farfalle, which means
butterflies and penne, which comes from the word feather or quill because it looks like an
old-fashioned quill pen.
We’re going to add our spaghetti to the boiling water and cook it to “al dente”. This is
another top tip for cooking pasta – don’t overcook it. In Italian, “al dente” means “to the
tooth”, which basically means that you want your pasta to be soft enough to eat, but still
have some bite to it. If you overcook it, it will turn to a mush, so we’re going to look at the
time on our packet instructions and set the timer just before the time’s up so that we can
check to see how it’s getting on.
Get one of the children to put the spaghetti into the pot and leave it to cook, then ask
another child to check the cooking time and set the timer.
Long pasta, such as spaghetti, should be eased gently into the water – as it cooks the
ends will soften and you’ll be able to push it further into the pan until it’s completely
submerged. While our pasta cooks and our sauce simmers away, let’s grate some Parmesan
cheese – this will go nicely with the rest of the flavours in our dish. We also need to clean
up the kitchen and lay the table so we’re ready to taste it.
Get some of the children to grate the Parmesan cheese and collect it into a serving bowl.
The other children can tidy the kitchen and lay the table, or create a menu for today’s meal
and make place cards for the table. The pasta should be done after around 7 to 10 minutes
(check the packet instructions). Regroup at the hob, then carefully pull out one strand
of pasta, using tongs. Let it cool slightly and cut the strand in half to show the children
that when it is cooked, there is no white inner ring. Let the children have a tiny taste to
understand the texture of al dente. Reserve a cup of the cooking water before draining.
Our final top tip for cooking pasta is to always reserve some of the cooking water. We do
this in case the sauce is too thick and it needs a bit of loosening when you mix it together
with the pasta.
Using oven gloves, carefully carry the pasta to the sink and drain into a colander. Remind
the children that the pot is hot and to get out of the way. Take the sauce off the heat, then
toss the spaghetti through the sauce to combine. Transfer to a serving dish, sprinkle over
the reserved basil leaves and take to the table with the grated Parmesan, to taste.
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What is your favourite pasta shape and why?
What other pasta sauces should we try to make?
Now that we know how to make simple tomato sauce, what else
could we use the sauce for?
Does anyone have any Italian relatives? Where in Italy are they from?
Kitchen Garden Project is an activity within the Jamie Oliver Food Foundation, registered charity number – 1094536
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Pick the basil leaves onto a chopping board
(reserving a few baby leaves to garnish), then
roughly chop the remaining leaves and finely
chop the stalks.
Peel and finely slice the onion and garlic.
If using fresh, cut the tomatoes in half, then
roughly chop them or carefully open the tins of
tomatoes.
Put a saucepan on a medium heat and add 1
tablespoon of olive oil and the onion, then cook
for around 7 minutes, or until soft and lightly
golden.
Stir in the garlic and basil stalks for a few
minutes, then add the fresh or tinned tomatoes
and the vinegar.
Season with a tiny pinch of salt and pepper,
then continue cooking for around 15 minutes,
stirring occasionally.
Stir in the chopped basil leaves, then reduce to
low and leave to tick away. Meanwhile…
Carefully fill a large pot three-quarters of the
way up with boiling water, add a tiny pinch of
salt and bring back to the boil.
Add the spaghetti and cook according to packet
instructions – you want to cook your pasta until
it is al dente. This translates as ‘to the tooth’
and means that it should be soft enough to eat,
but still have a bit of a bite and firmness to it.
Use the timings on the packet instructions as a
guide, but try some just before the time is up to
make sure it’s perfectly cooked.
Once the pasta is done, ladle out and reserve
a cup of the cooking water and keep it to one
side, then drain in a colander over the sink and
tip the spaghetti back into the pot.
Stir the spaghetti into the sauce, adding a
splash of the pasta water to loosen, if needed.
Serve with the reserved basil leaves sprinkled
over the top and use a microplane to finely
grate the Parmesan cheese, then sprinkle over.
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