Basic Tomato Sauce

Name: Basic Tomato Sauce
Yield: makes 6 to 7 cups
Ingredients: 2 (28-ounce) cans whole, peeled San Marzano tomatoes; 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil; 2 onions, finely chopped; 6 cloves garlic, sliced; 8 to 10 fresh basil leaves, depending on size; Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

December 14, 2011

If you master any one recipe in this book, this should be it. Not only does a bright, fresh tomato sauce turn any freshly made pasta into an event, but it’s also an indispensable component in dishes from basic ragus to Maloreddus with Squid, Tomato Sauce, and Lemon (page 97) and Linguine with Shrimp (page 90). Part of the fun of making your own sauce is squishing the whole tomatoes—and they must be San Marzanos—with your fingers. It can get messy, especially for those of us who wear glasses, but it’s worth it (and a good stress-reduction technique, to boot). Find an apron and get ready for a simple, well-balanced sauce that you’ll always want to have on hand. And when you can have this sauce ready in under an hour, why ever open a jar again?

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