Italian tomato sauce

The basic Italian tomato sauce is the so called sugo. It is a simple sauce that can be used with any pasta ...always! It's the basis for many other sauces and dishes ( eggplant parmigiana , stuffed zucchini ...). It is simple, but at the same time requires some attention to be prepared. Ingredients (4 people): - 4 spoons of extra virgin olive oil - 2 cans of peeled tomatoes (if you have time and patience to use the fresh ones ... peeled, it'll be better) - 1 minced onion - 2 minced garlic pieces - minced parsley - some basil leaves (if you don't have them, don't worry. You can use dry ones or don't add it at all. You can add then during cooking tme or at the end, to keep its perfum fresh) - 4 soup spoons of extra virgn olive oil (you can use other oil, even if extra virgn olive oil is the best one) - salt - some people add minced carrots (1 is enough) and minced celery (a piece), but it is up to you. How to do it: Put the oil inside a pan (it's better to use a "high" pan, to avoid squirts), turn on the gas and add the minced onion. Leave it for a while, mixing it to avoid overcooking, and then add the minced garlic and the carrot and celery, if you decide to use them, plus the parsley. After colouring them for a while, add the peeled tomatoes cut in medium pieces. Mix it all and leave it on high gas for a while. As it begins to boil, regulate the gas to avoid overcooking it, but leave it a little bit high. Otherwise you'll get a "too liquid" sauce, and a good one should be dense. Mix it every now and then. When your Italian tomato sauce is ready? When the oil is separated from the tomatoes. It'll take about half an hour for this quantity, but pay attention when you mix it that you'll notice that you can see the oil apart from the tomato cream. When it's ready, you just have to add it to your cooked pasta. As I said somewhere else in the site, put the grated parmesan cheese on the pasta, mix it and then add your sugo. The cheese will adhere to the pasta and together with the sugo. Buon appetito! If you're new to sugo, try this quantity for now. After you'll see that it is more convenient to cook bigger quantities and keep it into the refrigerator (it lasts for 4 or 5 days with no problem). Italian tomato sauce with meat There's a very used variation of simple tomato sauce that includes meat. Usually veal meat. You can use ground meat or have it quite minced, cut in small cubes. The recipe remains the same, with the add of meat. For the recipe above, it's enough to add 200gr of meat after colouring a little onion and garlic. Let it fry mixing it well. When it's done add the tomatoes and proceed as instructions. This sauce with meat is ideal for lasagna and slso for eggplant parmiggiana and stuffed zucchini. tip: Tomato sauce can also be eaten as it is, accompanied with good bread or in the "old way": take a small pan and put some tomato sauce inside and let it warm; then add an egg and cook it mixing it all. Eat with bread...buon appetito!