Slow-cooking Traditional Tomato Sauce

Total Time: 1 hr 30 mins Preparation Time: 15 mins Cook Time: 1 hr 15 mins

Ingredients

• 2 -3 lbs plum tomatoes, cored and cut into pieces (if they're watery, you will want more)
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 stalk celery
• 1 small carrot
• 1/4 medium onion
• 1 bunch parsley
• 1 fresh hot pepper, seeds discarded
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1 bunch basil

Recipe

• 1 begin by mincing the onion, garlic, celery, carrot, red pepper, and parsley.
• 2 sauté them in a quarter cup of olive oil.
• 3 meanwhile, core and cut up the tomatoes.
• 4 as soon as the onion has turned translucent, add the tomatoes and a teaspoon or so of salt to the pot and reduce the heat to a simmer.
• 5 cover and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, till the tomatoes begin to fall apart.
• 6 once the tomatoes are cooked, crank the mixture through a food mill, discarding the skins and seeds.
• 7 you could also puree the sauce in a food processor.
• 8 if you do, you may want to add a half teaspoon of sugar to counter the tartness of the tomato skins.
• 9 in either case, check the seasoning and return the sauce to the heat until it has thickened and a drop put on a plate no longer gives off a huge watery halo (depending on how watery the sauce was to begin with, this can take up to an hour).
• 10 when the sauce is done, stir in the basil leaves and turn off the heat.
• 11 transfer the sauce at once to clean jars, sealing each from the air by pouring a thin layer of olive oil over the sauce.
• 12 screw the lids onto the jars, and once they have cooled, refrigerate them.