Simply the best Tomato Sauce

***This recipe is the first post I ever posted on my blog. I keep it here for sentimental reasons. Please forgive the ugly photography and the poorly written recipe!! Hahaha. My how I have grown 😉

Hello!

This is the first recipe I learned from my mom, the first recipe I cooked living on my own, my go to recipe for any dinner with friends or date, even the first recipe I taught my boyfriend, so I thought it would be perfect as my first recipe for my blog.

It always surprises me that people buy that canned tomato sauce, it really is rather dull, and it’s so easy to make yourself.

This recipe is so simple to make, and so yummy, that I had a roommate who would eat the leftovers with a spoon like soup.

If done right, even simple pasta can make a choir of groans come from the table.

 The Recipe:

2 Cans of Whole Tomatoes (not crushed!)

1/2 a Large Onion

2-4 Cloves of Garlic

Glug of Olive Oil

Spoonful of Sugar

Salt & Pepper

Chilli Flakes, Oregano, Basil, or any other spice you like

Vegan Parmesan (click here for recipe)

Pasta of Choice (Gluten Free Pasta if you like)

To begin: Chop up onions and garlic. I personally like larger chunks of onion as I am pro texture, but you can chop them into smaller pieces, if you like.

Heat olive oil over medium high heat, in a large flat pan with high sides (it will cook better and faster than in a small tall pot).

When the oil is hot, toss in the onions and let them sizzle.

(Adjust temperature if they start to burn or if they are just looking soggy).

Sautee until they are lovely and brown. About 5-10 mins.

Then add garlic. Garlic is so small and sugary it burns quickly, which is why I add it later.

Sautee for about a minute until the garlic is looking delicious and brown too.

Note: right about now is when you will hear someone from the other room say something like

“ohhhh! What are you making, it smells so yummy!”

Now before stuff starts burning, toss in the cans of tomatoes, liquid and all.

Now you get out your secret tool, a potato masher! If you don’t have one of the squiggly ones pictured above, I highly recommend getting one.

They are not only awesome for potatoes, but work much, much better with this recipe.

So get your masher in there and mash up all those tomatoes! Make sure you find each and every one and give it a good smoosh.

Now I don’t go crazy with the masher as I love texture, but if you don’t want as much texture…well I give you permission to go crazy.

Let that pot simmer away, for maybe… 20 – 40 mins ish. Yes, it takes some time, but all you will be doing is giving it a stir every now and then.

So pour yourself a glass of wine, put on some music and dance around.

Once it’s starting to look all saucy and yummy, season with some salt, pepper, your spoonful of sugar and your spices, if using any. (This is my secret ingredient that helps cut the acidity of the tomatoes).

Eventually your sauce will get thick and delicious, as seen in the photo above, taste and season more if needed.

Boil up some water and cook your pasta. Extra tip: when boiling water for pasta, always use the biggest pot you have!

Pasta needs room to breath. It will cook better, and you wont have any of that sticking to the bottom of the pan nonsense to deal with.

Once pasta is cooked, BEFORE you drain it, add a ladle of the pasta cooking water to your sauce.

This will help loosen the sauce, as well as the starch in the water will help the sauce stick to the pasta!

To serve, add a spoonful of sauce to the bottom of the dish, before you put the pasta in.

The pasta wont stick to your bowl, and you wont run out of sauce when you get to the bottom of your dish.

Top with the pasta, then the sauce (as much or as little as you like, but I am a saucy kinda person).

Top with a grind of fresh pepper and some vegan parm.

Bon Appetegan!