Tomato sauce

Ingredients

Olive oil
4 cloves garlic peeled chopped
bunch of basil
3 x400g tins of tomatoes
salt n pepper

Method
Place a large non-stick frying pan on the heat and pour in 2-3 generous glugs of olive oil. Add the garlic, shake the pan around a bit and, once the garlic begins to colour lightly, add the basil and the tomatoes. Using the back of a wooden spoon, mush and squash the tomatoes.

Season the sauce with salt and pepper. As soon as it comes to the boil, remove the pan from the heat.
Strain the sauce through a coarse sieve into a bowl, using your wooden spoon to push any larger bits of tomato through. Discard the basil and garlic that will be left in the sieve.

Pour the sauce back into the pan, bring to the boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for 5 minutes to concentrate the flavours. It will be ready when it’s the perfect consistency for spreading on pizza.

Store the sauce in a clean jar in the fridge – it’ll keep for a week or so. Also great to freeze in batches or even in an ice cube tray. But to be honest, it’s so quick to make, you might as well make it on the day you need it.

I add chilli to my sauce and a little bit of sour cream at the end to make it smoother. Also in my opinion it's better to add fresh instead of canned tomatoes. I halve them, season with pepper and then roast for few minutes in the oven. When they are softer peel them off and add to frying pan with garlic, onion and chilli.

Recipe supplied courtesy of Opua School