This is basically the recipe at https://www.seriouseats.com/the-best-slow-cooked-italian-american-tomato-sauce-red-sauce-recipe
- 2x 1lb whole peeled tomatoes. Recipe calls for San Marzano, I've found Trader Joe unsalted plum tomatoes / Fred Meyer Kroger plain ones to work fine.
- 4-5 tablespoon olive oil to use just in the sauce. Eyeballing is fine, I think
- 8 clove-1 head of garlic, to taste
- 1tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 tbsp oregano
- 2 carrots, peel and rough cut (2-3" logs is fine)
- 1 medium onion (yellow, chop in half)
- 2 whole basil stems with all the leaves, fresh is nice. If you don't have any, I think about 3tsp dried basil is fine
- Crush tomatoes with bare hands in prep bowls; this is vaguely satisfying after a day of office work... Also pre-heat oven to 350F
- Heat olive oil on medium heat in a dutch oven or a big oven-safe pot
- Put in red pepper flakes, oregano, garlic; light fry 2 mins until garlic looks light golden
- Add the tomatoes
- Bring to a bubbling simmer
- Add carrots and onion halves, submerge them in the tomatoes
- Put in basil stems with leaves, just on the top is fine, they'll cook down
- Cover dutch oven with lid ajar (about 1/2 in open, or whatever balances), stick it in the oven
- Wait 2 hours
- Stir it a little, taste and see how you like it
- Leave it for another hour if you like a deeper tomato sauce flavor
- Pull out, discard carrots / onion (or eat them if you like the taste), use sauce for pasta dish, or freeze for later.
- I think using a mix of half the condensed sauce + fresher canned tomato is a nice mix, with finer diced and cooked onions
- We've used it for baked pasta with fake mozzarella and more basil
- Might work well in lasagna???