Melissa's Notes: Ever since I have been cooking for my family, I have been searching for the perfect homemade tomato sauce. I have tried many different recipes, and all fell a little short, in my opinion. I just could not understand why my sauces from scratch were not tasting wonderful. Then, I found out what the trick is. You have to boil the sauce for 15-20 minutes, and for some reason, that gives you the rich, robust tomato sauce that we all love. And it gets rid of the "canned" tomato taste. So, it really doesn't matter which recipe for sauce you use (I don't think), just remember to boil it down and thicken it! Here is the recipe I used, so simple, and very yummy!
courtesy of The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook
Quick Tomato Sauce
3 Tbsp. EVOO
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 (28-oz.) can crushed tomatoes (I used Hunt's)
1 (14.5-oz.) can diced tomatoes
3 Tbsp. minced fresh basil (optional)
1/4 tsp. sugar
salt, to taste, about 1 tsp.
1. Cook oil and garlic in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring often, until fragrant but not browned, about 2 minutes (you may have to turn the heat down). Stir in the crushed and diced tomatoes with their juice. Bring to a simmer and cook until slightly thickened, 15-20 minutes.
2. Stir in the basil and sugar. Season with salt to taste. When tossing the sauce with pasta, add some of the pasta cooking water as needed to loosen the consistency of the sauce.
*This recipe can easily be doubled, but increase the simmering time by 10 minutes.
