Simple Tomato Sauce

Adapted from Melissa Clark, via NYTimes Cooking

Makes about 5 cups

When I make tomato sauce for pasta, I always use canned whole tomatoes imported from Italy. I find NYTimes Cooking to be a treasure trove of recipes, and I enthusiastically recommend it. 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 through a food mill into a bowl. 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 food-milled 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.