I don’t call this sauce “simple” because it is dull in any way. It is a wonderful sauce, lightly textured but richly flavored, sweet and tangy like good tomatoes, and so versatile that I consider it a kitchen staple, one of the sauces that I always have in the freezer. All you need are canned tomatoes; a small amount of onion, carrot, and celery; and salt, peperoncino flakes, and two bay leaves. Then the sauce should mellow for a few hours if possible before using.

　　

Ingredients

7 to 8 cups of sauce

　　8 cups (two 35-ounce cans) canned San Marzano or other Italian plum tomatoes, with juices

　　1 large onion, chopped in small pieces

　　1 medium carrot, chopped in small pieces

　　1 inner rib celery, chopped in small pieces

　　6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

　　1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste

　　2 cups water

　　2 bay leaves

　　1 teaspoon dried peperoncino (hot red pepper flakes)

　　1/2 teaspoon honey (optional, after tasting)

　　

Recommended Equipment

A rotary food mill with a medium puréeing disk

　　A heavy-bottomed saucepan, 6 quarts or larger, with cover

　　

Step 1

Put the tomatoes through a food mill, using the medium blade, or a colander or sieve, set over a bowl. If you’re sieving the tomatoes through a sieve or colander, push the flesh through, scraping against the sieve to extract all the pulp and juice.

　　

Step 2

Put chopped onion, carrot, and celery pieces in the food processor and pulse several times, until you have very finely chopped small shreds. Or chop the pieces by hand into tiny bits.

　　

Step 3

Pour the oil into the sauce pot, stir in the chopped vegetables, and set over medium-high heat. Sprinkle on the salt. Cook for 3 minutes or so, stirring frequently, as the vegetables start to sizzle and soften; don’t let them brown.

　　

Step 4

Pour the milled tomatoes and juices into the pan, and stir with the vegetables. Rinse out the bowl and the tomato cans with the water, and pour this into the saucepan as well. Stir in the bay leaves, honey, and peperoncino, turn up the heat, cover, and bring the sauce to a boil, stirring and checking it frequently.

　　

Step 5

Adjust the heat to maintain an active simmer, with lots of small bubbles all over the sauce. Cover, and cook for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

　　

Step 6

Remove the cover; raise the heat so the sauce is still bubbling energetically and gradually reducing. Cook for another hour or so, stirring frequently to make sure nothing’s sticking to the bottom of the pot. Turn down the heat as the sauce thickens (and if the bubbles are bursting out of the pot). Taste for salt near the end of cooking, and add more if needed. When the sauce has reduced by about a quarter and is concentrated but still pourable, remove from the heat.

　　

Step 7

Let the sauce cool; remove the bay leaves. Allow the flavors to mellow for an hour or two. Use however much sauce you need immediately; refrigerate or freeze the rest.

　　

Good With . . .

Step 8

Pastas

　　

Step 9

Gnocchi

　　

Step 10

Baked pastas

　　

Step 11

Non-pasta dishes (such as the skillet meat gratinati, pages 281 to 287)

　　From Lidia's Family table by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich Copyright (c) 2004 by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich Published by Knopf.Lidia Bastianich hosts the hugely popular PBS show, "Lidia's Italian-American kitchen" and owns restaurants in New York City, Kansas City, and Pittsburgh. Also the author of Lidia's Italian Table and Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen, she lives in Douglaston, New York. Jay Jacob's journalism has appeared in many national magazines.From the Trade Paperback edition.