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But when it’s the middle of the week, I’m tired, and I want something quick for dinner, there’s only one recipe that’ll do. I haven’t bought a jar of pasta sauce for years simply because it’s so easy to make your own from just five simple ingredients – a few of which you’ll probably have at home. You could do it with less, but these five come together beautifully to make something you’ll crave on an autumn night.

In my opinion, the classics are truly the best when it comes to pasta dishes, and you can’t go wrong with tomato as a base. While tins of tomato are so useful to have at home, the fresh, sweet tang of decent cherry tomatoes is unbeatable.

Once you start buying the ones on the vine, it’s hard to go back. They’re a little more expensive, but worth every penny.

Luckily, the other four ingredients in this recipe are fairly cheap or last for ages – garlic, cream, red wine vinegar and parmesan. My mum would always make me cherry tomato and garlic pasta growing up, and I was obsessed. Over the years, I’ve been adding more ingredients, and now I think it tastes perfect.

If you like a bit of spice, you can add chilli flakes to the mix, but it’s not necessary. This is the one pasta dish I make the most, and once you try it, you’ll never go back.

Creamy tomato pasta

Ingredients (serves 2/3)

• Punnet of cherry tomatoes
• Five garlic cloves
• 150ml single cream
• Splash of red wine vinegar
• Around 50g Parmesan plus extra for dusting

Method

The beauty of this recipe is just how little prep is needed. Chop the tomatoes into quarters and crush the garlic, get the kettle boiled, and that’s your prep work done.

You don’t even actually need to chop the tomatoes, but I find it helps them to cook down better. Warm up some oil in a large pan over medium-low heat and fry the garlic for a minute until fragrant, then add the tomatoes.

It only takes around 10 minutes for the tomatoes to get nice and jammy, but you can crush them with the back of a fork to help release more juice and stop things from sticking to the pan.

Then, bring your water to a boil in a pot, salt it heavily, and add your pasta. While you’re at it, heavily salt your tomatoes, too.

I find rigatoni is the best shape for this sauce, but you can use whichever one you like. Put on enough for two to three people, as this is how much sauce there will be.

Add a splash of red wine vinegar, let it cook for another couple of minutes, then gradually add the cream, stirring between each addition.

At this point, turn the heat down so it’s not bubbling too much. Your pasta should be nearly ready, so when it’s cooked al dente, drain it – but remember to reserve a cup of the water.

Then add this to the sauce and mix it through; it will help it cling to the pasta better. Add the 50g of grated parmesan and mix once more before adding the pasta.

Stir gently so that everything is coated, and then it’s time to serve. Divide into three portions – or two if you’re really hungry – top with more Parmesan and enjoy.