Basic Tomato Sauce

This is a pasta sauce that is great to have on hand, is fairly easy to make, and tastes so much better than the jars from the store.

You can use fresh or dried herbs, and even throw in some fresh tomato if you have some to use up. Make a double batch if you eat pasta often (like me) and freeze it in smaller portions.

I use my mandolin (not the instrument), to slice up the onion, celery, and carrot which makes them superfine, and blend in nicely with the sauce.

Basic Tomato Sauce

1/4 cup olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 teaspoon of garlic, or 2-3 cloves
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
Salt and pepper
2 (32-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes
1 teaspoon dried basil
2 bay leaves

In a large pot, heat oil over medium high heat. Add onion and garlic and saute until soft and translucent, about 2 minutes. Add celery and carrots and season with salt and pepper. Saute until all the vegetables are soft, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, basil, and bay leaves and simmer covered on low heat for 1 hour. Remove bay leaves. At this point if you want a thinner sauce you can blend some, or all of the mixture.

Tagged as: pasta, Recipe, tomato sauce