Homemade tomato sauce comes in many versions. Some are purists and only use tomatoes while some jazz it up with herbs, peppers and cheeses. Each family has its own recipe and secret ingredients. Needless to say, any homemade tomato sauce is bound to be amazingly delicious. Here is my take on tomato sauce. You can use this tomato basil garlic sauce for pasta, meatballs, as a dipping sauce or on whatever your heart desires.
Garlic Tomato Sauce Recipe
Ingredients:
- 4 Roma tomatoes
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1/2 red chili pepper
- A handful of fresh basil leaves
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 cup water
- Sea salt and black pepper
Method:
- Chop the tomatoes, garlic, red chili pepper and basil in a food processor. You want the mix to be a little chunky – so don’t turn it into a purée. You can also chop everything by knife as well.
- In a pot, heat up about one tablespoon of olive oil. Pour in the tomato mixture and cook uncovered for a few minutes until it boils. Add one cup of water and stir. Cover and simmer at medium-low heat for 15 minutes.
- Uncover and season with salt and black pepper. I suggest adding no more than 1/8 teaspoon of sea salt to the sauce at this point because you can adjust the seasoning later depending on how you want to use the sauce.
- Cover and simmer at medium-low heat for another 5 to 10 minutes. You can cook the sauce for a little longer if you want a more intense flavor, but this sauce is meant to be fresh and light. A total of 20 minutes of cooking time will do the job.
This recipe yields about 3 cups and can be doubled up. You can also check out my video on YouTube, where I will show you how this tomato sauce is made. Bon appétit!