I make tomato sauce often. I make a batch to use that same night, and freeze what is left over to pull out and cook with when I want to throw something together quickly, like a grilled pizza or a pasta. A ricer or food mill is an inexpensive piece of kitchen equipment and there are many sizes. This is the best way to puree this sauce.

Ingredients

　　2 tablespoons olive oil

　　1 medium onion, chopped

　　4 cloves garlic, minced

　　1 teaspoon dried oregano

　　1 Fresno chile, minced, or 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

　　1 (28-ounce) can whole tomatoes, such as San Marzano, with half of the juice strained out, and crushed with your fingers

　　2 tablespoons tomato paste

　　Salt and freshly ground black pepper

　　Add the olive oil to a large saucepan over high heat; decrease the heat to medium. Add the onion and cook for 1 minute, stirring often, until the onion begins to soften. Add the garlic, oregano, and chile, and stir to mix. Add the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, a large pinch of salt, and a few cranks of pepper. Decrease the heat to medium-low and cook for about 8 to 10 minutes. Run the tomato sauce through a ricer, otherwise known as a food mill, break up the tomatoes with a few pulses of an immersion blender, or use as is. Taste and season with more salt and pepper, if needed.

　　Reprinted with permission from Cooking off the Clock: Recipes from My Downtime by Elizabeth Falkner, copyright © 2012. Published by Ten Speed Press, a division of Random House, Inc.Elizabeth Falkner is the founding chef and owner of Citizen Cake and Orson in San Francisco and is currently opening a new restaurant in Brooklyn, NY. She was a finalist and runner-up on The Next Iron Chef in 2011, competed on Top Chef Masters and has judged Top Chef Masters and Top Chef. Elizabeth was Bon Appétit's pastry chef of the year in 2006. Her first book, Demolition Desserts, was published in 2007.