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A versatile red sauce for pasta or pizza.
No special culinary equipment is needed to prepare this wonderful sauce.
½ cup Cherry Tomatoes chopped in quarters
1 cup Grape Tomatoes, chopped in half
1 ½ cup Roma Tomatoes, chopped to about the same size as the Cherry and Grape Tomato slices
1 ½ cup large Red Tomatoes (whatever you can get at your local market), chopped to about the same size as the other tomatoes
8 cloves of Garlic, finely chopped
½ cup White Onion, finely chopped
1/3 cup Olive Oil
40 small to medium size leaves of fresh Basil
White, Black and Red Pepper, to taste
Salt to taste (at least a ½ teaspoon)
Note: We like to use several different types of tomatoes because each adds a unique flavor
Place the chopped tomatoes into a bowl and sprinkle with salt and add the olive oil. Mix and then set aside and let stand for 10 to 15 minutes. Add the garlic and the onion and mix. In the palm of your hand lightly squeeze the basil leaves several at a time to release the fragrance and flavor. The leaves will start to turn a deeper green which is what you want. It will only take a few seconds or so – then chop the leaves and mix in with the tomatoes. Let sit all together for about another 5 to 10 minutes and then heat a sauce pan and pour all of the ingredients into the pan – adding the three peppers to taste. Cook for 15 minutes to a half hour and then let cool slightly and ladle the ingredients into a blender or food processor to blend all of the ingredients together. You can then warm the sauce up for use as a pasta sauce, use at the current temperature for a pizza sauce or freeze the sauce for future use.
This is a great tomato sauce for the Pizza with Arugula Topping recipe, which you can access by clicking that recipe title.