Here's Henry Hill's basic tomato sauce recipe:
A simple tomato sauce is the basis of all Southern Italian cooking, even though tomatoes are not native to Italy. (Can you believe it? They were brought over from the Americas.) I love this sauce. It is light, sweet, and delightful. You can use it with any and everythingtossed with pasta, as a base for Lobster Fra Diavolo or Chicken Cacciatore, you name it. And because you skim it (remove the acid), it's guaranteed to be heartburn free.
When I cook, it often starts with getting this sauce going (if there's none left in the refrigerator), and then the rest of the meal can happen. I don't usually like onions in my sauce, but some people always add them. When I did a stint in prison, Vinnie Aloi, the head of his family, used to make us sauce and he used tons of onions. I didn't like it, but believe me, I ate every bite. Remember this is a "basic"recipe. You can add a little of this, a little of that. I don't know if I've ever made sauce the same way twice. I'll add a bit of red wine one day, some tomato paste the next, more basil, etc. It's like making loveyou do it a little different every time, but the end result will always put a smile on your face.
6-8 cloves of garlic, minced or thinly sliced (about 2 tablespoons)
cup olive oil
cup chopped brown or white onions or shallots
2 28-ounce cans peeled plum tomatoes with basil, drained, reserving juice
12 large basil leaves, torn in large pieces, or 1 tablespoon dried
cup finely chopped fresh Italian parsley, or 2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon dried parsley
teaspoon each salt and pepper
In a large skillet or medium-large wide pot, cook garlic briefly in olive oil over medium-low heat. Do not brown, or it will get bitter. If using optional onions, cook them 3-5 minutes in olive oil, then add garlic and cook 1 minute. Add the juice from the canned tomatoes to stop the garlic cooking. Crush tomatoes with your hands or chop well on a cutting board and add to the pan. Add basil, parsley, and teaspoon each of the salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, stir thoroughly once, then reduce heat to a low simmer. As the acid from the tomatoes flows to the top, skim it off every 10-15 minutes. Sauce is ready in half an hour, but cook up to 1 hour if you want it thicker. Check for seasoning and add the rest of the salt and pepper, if desired.
HENRY'S NOTES AND TIPS: Stirring the sauce mixes the acid into it. It's okay to stir briefly right after you skim, to keep it from scorching. You can tell the acid's coming out by the foamy stuff and little pools of oil that form on the topthat's what you skim off. My mom would put one of the empty tomato cans next to the stove to catch the skimmed-off partsomething I still do today. Though a lot of people disagree, I never add sugar to saucenever! If I had to use lower quality canned tomatoes, I add half a small carrot, peeled and finely grated for sweetening. Add the carrot early enough in the process so it gets completely soft. If you crush the tomatoes with your hands, watch they don't squirt you. Or your clothes. My mom taught me a way to slice garlic so thin it liquefies in the pan: with a razor. Do this at your own risk.
PARSLEY (AND OTHER FRESH HERBS) When I say parsley, I mean Italian parsley, not curly. I never use curly parsley to cook, only as a garnish. Italian parsley has fatter leaves which are dark green. It looks kind of like fresh cilantro; don't get them confused! My mom always used to say eating parsley is so good for you it's like taking vitamins. Just recently scientists found out that it and many other herbs are as good for you as fresh fruits and vegetables, sometimes better! If you can't find fresh Italian parsley, use dried parsley. Use 2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon of dried instead of the cup fresh, and add the dried stuff halfway through or its flavor will get cooked away. To clean fresh parsley (and any number of other herbs), rinse with water, shake off excess, then pinch the leaves off the stems (unless the recipe says to use whole stalks, like when you're making a soup or stock, in which case you toss in the whole thing). You don't have to be a fanatic about getting rid of all the stems. The top part of most herbs is pretty tender and sweet like the leaves. I chop the leaves very fine on a cutting board until they start to give off their odor before adding to a dish. Grinding in a mortar and pestle is a great way to get the most flavor from fresh herbs. If you're using dried herbs, crumble in your fingers a bit to start releasing the flavor.
