- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced then roughly chopped
- 4 large garlic cloves, smashed with the side of a knife
- ¼ teaspoon dried oregano
- ¼ cup wine (white or red, whichever you have lying around — but preferably red)
- 1 28-ounce can whole or crushed tomatoes
- Sea salt
- 1 basil sprig
Our Favorite Tomato Sauce
Makes 2 Cups Sauce
This gets filed under the header of Things We Eat With A Spoon (all day every day that it happens to be on hand). Onions and a generous splash of wine add lovely sweetness to the sauce, and a blast of high heat at the end concentrates the caramelized tomato flavor.
For spoon-eating purposes, leave the sauce as is, studded with nubs of caramelized garlic and sweet, soft onions. If tossing the sauce with pasta, spaghetti squash or shaved zucchini, consider blitzing it in a blender first. Consider making twice as much as you think you’ll need, too. It will be devoured. In the mood for a spicier sauce? Try this or this.
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Instructions
In a lidded pot or deep-walled sauté pan over medium heat, add the olive oil, onion and garlic cloves. Sauté, stirring only 2-3 times, until they begin to turn golden (about 6-8 minutes — some nice golden-brown color on the garlic cloves is ideal). Add the oregano and stir, then add the wine, stir, and let it simmer and deglaze until nearly evaporated.
If using whole tomatoes, crush them with your hand (just reach on into that can and squeeze…preferably not while wearing a light-colored shirt, as these things are squirters) before adding to the pan. Add the salt, stir well and cover; reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 20 minutes. Stir once or twice during that time to loosen anything that’s sticking to the bottom of the pan.
After 20 minutes, the flavors will be incorporated, but the sauce will be a bit watery. Remove the lid, take a taste and season if needed, and then crank up the heat to medium/medium-high. Cook for another 15 minutes, stirring regularly. If the pan starts to get a bit too dry, add some splashes of water; this will help things continue to caramelize without burning. The sauce is done when it’s a) delicious! and b) cooked down to the point where you can drag a spoon through the pan and no liquid pools in its wake.
We often keep the sauce chunky, but it’s lovely pureed, too. Either way, store it with a sprig of basil tucked inside (it perfumes things quite wonderfully). Or, if you’re using it right away, thinly slice the basil leaves and stir ‘em on in.
