pasta sauce

I am watching "A Woman Under the Influence" and just got through with the infamous pasta scene. I grew up on lots of pasta. My Mother's recipe is much different than my Father's. My Mother's resembles something of a hippy stew with a thousand herbs, carrots, god only knows, although it’s really good. I prefer my Father's recipe. It's simple for a poor lethargic person like myself.

Unless you are feeding 3-4, this should leave you with some leftovers.

WHAT YOU NEED:
1 Can of whole tomatoes
1 Clove of Garlic
1 Bunch of Fresh Basil
1 Bag of spaghetti
1/3 Cup of extra virgin olive oil (preferably greek)

OPTIONAL
Greek Olives
Red Wine

WINE CHOICE
Red – Chianti for sure. This is a rather rich meal, and Chianti is dry and won’t seem heavy.
White – Italian Pinot. Very light.

FIRST: open the can of tomatoes and pour them into a cooking pot. Take a press or knife or whatever you may have and smash the tomatoes until they are mostly liquid. Take the pot and put it on simmer. Also add a bit more than a dash of salt.

SECOND: Unwrap the garlic. Take an ultra sharp knive and slice 3-7 cloves depending on how garlic you can handle. I believe garlic is the fruit of the gods so I do around 8. Cut the garlic in slivers. Also you can cut some of the Basil but don’t mix the two.

THIRD: Take a frying pan a pour a liberal about of olive oil in, and also the garlic. Set the burner to Med/High. Let the garlic cook until it turns a light crispy brown. No more, no less.

FOURTH: Pour the Garlic and Olive Oil mixture into the now simmering tomato sauce. You may way to take a bit of water and pour into the frying pan to capture what’s left of the garlic and oil and then pour that as well into the sauce. A little water never hurts.

FIFTH: Now take the frying pan and 1/4 cup of water into it and set the heat to simmer. Throw in the basil. Let it sit until the basil wilts in the water. Now take the water and basil, pour that into the tomato sauce.

SIXTH: Now technically your sauce is finished. Taste it. You may need more salt, it may have thickened from cooking to long. Just add a little water. Also earlier on in the process add some wine if you want and about 6-10 Greek olives, it will give it a strong flavor, so don’t use too many.

That’s it. If you don’t know how to cook the pasta, look it up somewhere else. This sauce is good with mostly regular old spaghetti, but do whatever you want.