Simple Tomato Sauce

Adapted from NYTimes Cooking

Adapted from NYTimes Cooking

When I make tomato sauce for pasta, it’s usually very plain, with few ingredients—and I always use canned whole tomatoes imported from Italy. I love Marcella Hazan’s Sauce with Tomato and Onion, and another of her sauces that I think should share the spotlight: Sugo Fresco di Pomodoro, which I make a lot in the summer when I have basil growing right outside the side door. Ruth Rogers, a founding chef at The River Café in London, called it “the nicest dish there is.”

I find NYTimes Cooking to be a treasure trove of recipes, and I enthusiastically recommend it. The site is user-friendly, and it’s easy to save and print recipes. Since its inception, I’ve added a number of its recipes to my own repertoire. One of them is Melissa Clark’s Simple Tomato Sauce, which is now the sauce for my family’s Manicotti.

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 28-ounce cans Italian whole tomatoes, preferably from San Marzano, Italy
2 sprigs basil, optional (If you have them, use them, but if you don’t, do not substitute dried basil.)
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper

Put the tomatoes in a large bowl and crush them using your fingers. Do not do this in a blender or food processor, as it will puree them rather than crush them. If the tomatoes have been packed with basil leaves, remove and discard them.

Warm the oil in a 4- or 5-quart non-reactive sauté pan, and add the garlic slices. Cook until they turn slightly—barely—gold. Watch carefully; don’t let them color too much or burn. If you do, you’ll need to start over. Add the crushed red pepper flakes and cook for 30 seconds.

Stir in the contents of the bowl with the hand-crushed tomatoes. Add the basil, if using, along with the salt and pepper.

Bring the sauce to a simmer and taste to check the seasoning. Add a little more salt if necessary. Simmer steadily, adjusting the heat as needed, until the tomatoes have thickened into a sauce that is not at all watery—but not jammy either. This will take about 30 to 40 minutes.

Remove from the heat and discard the basil, if you used it.