Cherry Tomato Five-Minute Sauce

By norsegal8

This ultrasimple sauce is one of my favorite basic preparations. It's vibrancy depends on the freshest, ripest tomatoes. I favor the intensely flavored cherry tomatoes, but any small, sweet tomato works well. The sauce changes with the addition of ingredients; serve it chilled with onions, peppers and lime for gazpacho, or heat it and toss with pasta. The added touch of sugar does the job of balancing the spices and acids.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 quarts ripe cherry tomatoes, halved
• 2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• leaves from 4 sprigs of fresh basil
• salt
• fresh ground pepper
• 1 teaspoon sugar

Preparation

Step 1

1. Heat the oil in the large saucepan over high heat. Add the tomatoes, pepper flakes, and garlic and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon. Add basil.

2. Pour sauce into a food mill and puree. Season with salt and pepper.

You can eat it over pasta or freeze it for another day.