Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce

Although any purchased spaghetti will do, this dish will be special for the company if you use handmade pasta (see "Fantastic Pasta you can Buy" below.
Squeeze the juice and seeds from the tomato halves through a fine-mesh sieve over a bowl, reserving the juice; discard the seeds. Finely chop the tomatoes.Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic to the pan; cook for 30 seconds or just until the garlic starts to brown, stirring constantly. Add tomatoes, remaining juice, 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper. Increase the heat to medium-high; cook for 15 minutes or until the liquid has almost evaporated, stirring occasionally.In an 8-quart saucepan, bring 6 liters of water and the remaining 2 tablespoons of salt to a boil. Add the pasta to the pan; toss to combine. Cover; bring water to a boil. Uncover and cook for 8 minutes or until pasta is almost al dente. Tip the pasta into a colander over a bowl, reserving 1/2 cup of water for cooking.Add the hot pasta and remaining cooking water to the tomato mixture. Cook for 5 minutes or until the sauce thickens and the pasta is al dente, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Sprinkle with basil; toss to combine. Place 1 cup of the pasta mixture on each of the 6 plates. Drizzle each serving with 1/2 teaspoon of remaining butter; sprinkle each with 1 tablespoon of cheese.Fantastic Macaroni you can buy: Imported handmade Italian macaroni can be difficult to find, but it's worth looking for if you want authenticity. They are made from the highest quality wheat, which gives them an excellent taste, and the dough is squeezed out through bronze molds, resulting in beautiful shapes with a porous surface, to which the sauce easily sticks. In addition, they are slowly dried, which makes the product stronger.Search local specialty markets and online grocery stores for high-quality imported handmade pasta. Some of the best brands:Latini: Pay attention to their family wheat pasta "Senatore cappelli" or "Taganrog riccioli".Benedetto Cavalieri and Martelli: Both make excellent spaghetti, bucatini and short pasta such as penne and fusilli.Pasta di Gragnano, Setaro and Gerardo di Nola: they are all prepared in traditional forms of the Neapolitan Campania region, such as candele (long hollow candle-shaped tubes designed to break), squid (short wide rings), paccheri (large rigatoni) and fusilloni (large corkscrews).