Simple Tomato Sauce Recipe

If your garden is like ours, there comes a time - usually some time in August - when the tomatoes are ready. It always seems to happen all at once. Two weeks of more tomatoes than one family can eat. Although you get a little tired of tomatoes, it is a great opportunity to make certain dishes that, under normal conditions, you would normally not hesitate to use canned tomatoes -- like simple red sauce.

This recipes adapted from Alice Water's cookbook, The Art of Simple Food (Clarkson Potter Publishers, 2007)

Ingredients:
2 pounds ripe tomatoes - peel, seed and dice
5 large Anselmo garlic cloves - chopped coarsely
1/4 cup olive oil
salt to taste

Directions:
1. Core tomatoes and plunge them one at a time into boiling water until their skins are loose - from 15 to 60 seconds. Lift tomatoes out of the hot water and plunge them into a bowl of ice-cold water to stop the cooking. Drain and peel. But the tomatoes in half horizontally and "coax" the seeds out into a bowl. Strain seeds and save the juice.

2. Put a heavy-bottom pot over medium heat and, when hot, pour in olive oil. Add garlic and when it starts to sizzle, immediately add the tomatoes and their juice with a large pinch of salt.

3. Cook at a simmer for 15 minutes. For a smooth sauce, pass it through a food mill.

makes about 2 cups