The trick for that next level tomato sauce with your pasta

The absolute best thing in life? Tomato sauce with cheese. Whether it's on a pizza, through your pasta, or as a finishing touch for a divine melanzane. Our neighbors at FavorFlav have the trick to make your tomato sauce even more to die for. Cook them.

Garlic

The trick lies in the garlic. Instead of chopping the cloves and sautéing them, I sauté them whole in the pan. Cook the whole cloves over medium heat and turn them occasionally until they are light brown on all sides. Towards the end, this can quickly turn to dark brown, so watch closely. This way, you get almost the sweet flavor of roasted garlic, but it still retains a little sharpness. That gives the sauce just the extra depth you want. Once the garlic has the right color, add a can of tomatoes. And yes, I use canned tomatoes. There's nothing wrong with that.

Simmering

Fill the empty can with water and add that to the pan, along with pepper and salt. Bring the mixture to a boil and then let it simmer very gently for an hour. Check occasionally to see if it’s reducing too much; if so, add some more water. In the end, you want to have about as much tomato sauce left as there was in the can. By letting everything simmer together, the flavors meld, giving you a more intense umami flavor. At this stage, you can also add some dried oregano or basil.

Finishing

Put the sauce in the blender or use an immersion blender to puree everything, possibly with some fresh basil. I use two large cloves per can of tomatoes. Are yours smaller? Then use three or four.

Extra tip: also very tasty on pizza, as a base for melanzane parmigiana or caponata. As far as I'm concerned, you can also add minced meat at the end and let it simmer for another hour for a great ragù. But I find it the tastiest when it's simple.

Text: FavorFlav