Easy Tomato Basil Sauce for Pasta
Basic and simple Tomato Basil Sauce for Pasta or Pizza. Easy to make and can be frozen so you always have a batch of sauce ready for the next Pasta session.
Prep Time10 minutes mins
Cook Time1 hour hr 30 minutes mins
Total Time1 hour hr 40 minutes mins
Course: Pasta sauce, sauce
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: Pasta Sauce, Tomato Basil Sauce, Tomato Sauce
Servings: 2 cups
Calories: 265kcal
Author: Sujata Shukla
- 5 cups Tomato Diced into 2 cm square slices
- 2 tablespoons Basil leaves minced
- 4 cloves garlic minced or crushed after peeling
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon Fresh ground pepper
Preparation
Wash the tomatoes and remove the 'eyes' or the round stem area. Dice the tomatoes into even sized pieces, about 2 cm square. Even sized small pieces will cook uniformly. I don't remove the skin of the tomatoes, but if you would like to do that, before slicing the tomoates, dip them in boiling water for about 2 minutes, drain and peel off the skin.
Peel and mince or crush the garlic. Wash, pat dry and mince the basil leaves. Grind the pepper.
To make Tomato Basil Pasta Sauce
Warm a pan and add the olive oil. As soon as the oil is hot, check that the stove is on low flame and add the garlic. Sauté for about 5-10 seconds, stirring so that the garlic does not brown.
Add the basil and stir. Add the tomatoes, stir. Bring the stove heat to high, stirring the tomatoes and garlic well. Once the tomatoes begin to boil, reduce the flame to low and allow the tomatoes to simmer, cooking in their juices. Stir frequently, checking that the sauce does not catch at the bottom of the pan.
In about an hour, the sauce will thicken and begin to reduce. Cook on low heat, stirring frequently till it has come down to about half its original quantity. If you are making a lesser quantity, e.g. 2 cups of tomatoes to make 1 cup of sauce, the sauce would take lesser time, about 45 minutes. Remember to keep the sauce on low heat and to stir it frequently.
Season with ¼ spoon of salt (or less, for smaller quantities) and the pepper, stir and transfer to a cool bowl so that the sauce does not continue to cook.
Refrigerate once it is cool, if not using immediatley, and use within 2 days. Or freeze after it cools completely, making sure you have not allowed any moisture to enter the sauce or the container. Bring to room temperature and then warm it up again before using.
- Ripe red tomatoes and good quality olive oil will give the best results.
- If reducing the quantity of the sauce, eg 2 cups of tomatoes to produce 1 cup of sauce, then the cooking time would go down to about 45 minutes or less.
- You will know when the sauce is 'done' when the tomato pieces look mashed and not as separate pieces.
- The tomatoes may first be blanched for a few minutes in boiling hot water, strained and then the skin removed. I do not usually do this as the long slow cooking cooks the skin as well and does not leave a tough stringy skin.
Serving: 1cup | Calories: 265kcal | Carbohydrates: 17g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 22g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Sodium: 311mg | Potassium: 928mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 3215IU | Vitamin C: 53mg | Calcium: 57mg | Iron: 1mg