Tomato sauce

Ingredients

• 1/4 cupolive oil
• 4 clovegarlic, thinly sliced
• 1.8 lbchopped tomatoes, two cans, good quality
• 1/2 ozfresh basil, leaves and stalks separated
• 1 1/2 tspsea salt
• 1/2 tspblack pepper
• 1 tspsuperfine sugar, only if the tomatoes are sharp

Method

1. 1

   Warm the olive oil in a wide pan over a low heat and add the sliced garlic. Cook it slowly until it is soft and fragrant and only just beginning to turn pale gold.

2. 2

   Tip in the chopped tomatoes, add the basil stalks whole, and season with the salt and pepper. Rinse each can out with a splash of water and add that too.

3. 3

   Simmer gently, stirring now and then and crushing the tomatoes against the side of the pan, until the sauce has thickened and the oil has begun to separate out at the edges.

4. 4

   Fish out the basil stalks, taste, and add the sugar only if the tomatoes are still sharp. Tear the basil leaves in off the heat.