Tomato sauce should be simple. Look on it as a base ingredient.
Nothing fancy, just garlic, tomatoes, a little basil, pepper and salt.
Don’t crush the garlic as it will get bitter. Instead slice it thinly. Saute a handful in some olive oil in a big pan, making sure that you keep the flame very low so that it doesn’t burn.
Now smoosh the tomatoes, one by one, skin and all, into the pan with the garlic.
Then cook this tomato mixture down, poking at it from time to time with a wooden spoon. It doesn’t need to cook for ages to reach a thick, saucy consistency. about half to three quarters of an hour.
Add a bit of salt and grind some pepper over, taste as you go along. Sometimes I use my little stick blender (definitely not a traditional Sicilian cooking practice) if the sauce is looking too chunky.
When the tomatoes have cooked, you can add a handful of sliced basil, but nothing else. When you use it in cooking, you can add further herbs and spices as necessary.
Spoon your sauce into containers of your choice. It freezes very well, so make a large batch.
