Make this sauce with fresh tomatoes only when the juiciest, most flavorful ripe tomatoes are available. (Increase the amount of olive oil a little if you make the sauce with fresh tomatoes.) Otherwise, canned plum tomatoes make a delicious marinara sauce.

　　

Ingredients

makes about 1 quart, enough to dress 6 servings of pasta

　　1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

　　8 cloves garlic, peeled

　　3 pounds ripe fresh plum tomatoes, peeled and seeded (see page 9), or one 35-ounce can peeled Italian plum tomatoes (preferably San Marzano), seeded and lightly crushed, with their liquid

　　Salt

　　Crushed hot red pepper

　　10 fresh basil leaves, torn into small pieces

　　

Step 1

Heat the oil in a 2- to 3-quart nonreactive saucepan over medium heat. Whack the garlic with the flat side of a knife, add it to the oil, and cook until lightly browned, about 2 minutes.

　　

Step 2

Carefully slide the tomatoes and their liquid into the oil. Bring to a boil and season lightly with salt and crushed red pepper. Lower the heat so the sauce is at a lively simmer and cook, breaking up the tomatoes with a whisk or spoon, until the sauce is chunky and thick, about 20 minutes. Stir in the basil about 5 minutes before the sauce is finished. Taste the sauce and season with salt and red pepper if necessary.

　　From Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich Copyright © 2001 by A La Carte Communications and Tutti a Tavola, LLC. Published by arrangement with Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of The Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.Buy the full book from Amazon.