The Best Tomato Sauce is Also the Easiest to Cook

The quality of your sauce will be determined by the quality of your tomatoes.

I use whole Italian tomatoes from the San Marzano region because they are so sweet.  The volcanic ash attracts the sun to the soil and produces the sweetest tomatoes.

If I run out of imported tomatoes I sometimes use Muir Glen Organic whole Italian tomatoes.  

Now, members of my family questioned the secret I am about to reveal, but I believe that good meals, like good stories, are made to be shared.

There are only a few ingredients in my tomato sauce.   Obviously there are a million different ways you can build on this sauce and I'd love to hear your additions. But this is my classic sauce that is so easy a fifth-grader can cook it.  It takes longer to read the recipe than to cook it, and once you get it, you've got it for life.

• 1 28 oz can Rega Rega (or other brand) San Marzano whole Italian tomatoes.  Carmelina is also an excellent choice and I believe they are sold at Dominic's and Whole Foods (yellow can). I have heard that the new Amano Boucherie also sells San Marzano tomatoes. So does Frankie's Deli at Yorktown Mall. NOTE:  I feel it is important to buy whole Italian tomatoes.  A whole tomato has not had any surface area exposed in chopping or crushing and I believe it produces the best results.
• 5 big cloves of garlic. Again, good sauce comes from good ingredients. Don't settle for shriveled, weary garlic.  Look for plump, full bulbs.  Of the major supermarkets, Whole Foods and Dominic's tend to sell  the best.
• 5 T extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp salt (sea salt is great)
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 can of water from emptied tomato can

The secret is in the way you prepare the garlic: Smash your garlic cloves with the back of a large knife to crush and remove paper. Do not chop or slice garlic. That is the secret.  

When the garlic is cooked into the tomatoes without chopping or slicing, the surface area is not exposed and therefore there is no bitterness, no sharpness; just the sublime sweet sugar of the garlic which is released into the sauce slowly.

Place the crushed garlic cloves into your large sautee pan and pour your olive oil over them. It's important to turn on the heat after, not before you put oil and garlic in the pan.

Turn on the heat to medium/low and prepare your can of tomatoes while you wait for the garlic to open up its aroma.

Open your can of whole Italian tomatoes. There are a few different ways you can crush them. Place entire contents of can into a food processor and blitz briefly until there are no big bits.  Don't over process. If you want to kick it old school, wash your hands and dig in.

For the old-school, hand-crushing method: When your garlic begins to sizzle slightly and smell glorious (about 2 minutes) put your hand over the top of the opened can of tomatoes to keep the tomatoes in the can. Slowly pour the juice of the tomatoes into the garlic and oil. It may sizzle and spit a little so take care not to get burned.   

Once the liquid is poured into the pan you can begin to crush the tomatoes with your hand. Simply put the can on the counter and put your hand inside and squeeze until there are no big chunks left. If you don't want to get your hand messy you can also just pour the whole can of tomatoes in the pan and use a potato masher to mash up the large tomatoes. Just take care not to mash your garlic cloves too.

After you crush tomatoes with your hand, pour them into the pan with the garlic, oil and juice.  

Fill your can 1/4-  to 1/3-full of water. Pour this into the tomato sauce.  Add salt, pepper and stir. Cook on medium heat for about 20 minutes.   I usually stir a few times, but I have also forgotten to stir while I got sidetracked and the sauce still tasted amazing.

The sauce needs to be cooked on a low simmer.  Try not to boil or produce too much heat too fast.   A nice, slow, steady sautee produces the best sauce.

Your sauce will reduce almost by half.  It will be thick and rich and very sweet.  

Adjust your salt and pepper to your liking and pour over pasta. 

I leave the whole cooked garlic cloves in the finished dish but if you want to lift them out that's fine too.

This sauce is so easy to prepare that all of my kids know how to make it.

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