basic tomato sauce for pasta

How To Make basic tomato sauce for pasta

• 1

  Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in large pan. Add garlic and brown. Add onion and saute until translucent, about 2 minutes.
• 2

  Add tomatoes and break them up as they cook to create a sauce, leaving the tomatoes as chunky as you like, about 5 minutes.
• 3

  When the garlic, onions and tomatoes are at a bubbling boil, stir in tomato paste until smooth. Add about 1/2 cup of red wine (or as little or much to your taste) and a pinch of sugar (to cut the tomato acidity), about 5 minutes.
• 4

  Finally, for serving with meatballs (or whenever you want a sauce to stand out), add crushed red pepper flakes - a little goes a long way, so no more than 2 teaspoons unless (like me!) you like "heat" - then play around until you get the taste to your liking. Simmer about 10 minutes. This recipe takes doing a couple of times to work out your personal preference for spices. I like a lot of garlic and a good amount of heat, so I use more garlic than listed and nearly a tablespoon of peppers - I like my sauce to stand up to my meatballs! For a "plain" sauce for pasta, I tone down the heat and add oregano or basil. This is a good "basic" sauce that you can play and change to suit the meal.
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