MY TOMATO SAUCE

MAKES ABOUT 5 CUPS

THIS IS NOT GRANDMA’S Sunday “gravy”—tomatoes cooked all day into a thick, red sauce. Rather, this sauce captures the bright acidity of fresh tomatoes in season; cooking time is brief. It’s orange because I blended olive oil with lighter-colored tomatoes and vinegar. For a deeper red, you’d need a ton of tomato paste. There’s deliberately none in this sauce, because my goal is freshness.

2 tablespoons olive oil

½ red onion, thinly sliced

2 large cloves garlic, minced

Large pinch crushed red pepper flakes

Pinch dried oregano

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

4 large beefsteak tomatoes (about 3½ pounds), roughly chopped

Pinch sugar

Salt and pepper

Handful fresh basil leaves

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and sweat for a couple of minutes. Add the red pepper flakes and oregano and cook for another minute, then add the vinegar and cook until it’s almost evaporated.

Raise the heat to high, then add about one-third of the tomatoes and cook until they start to break down, about 3 minutes. Repeat twice more with the remaining tomatoes. Reduce the heat, add the sugar, salt, and pepper, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes are softened and the sauce has thickened, about 15 minutes. Add the basil and cook for a couple of minutes more.

Transfer the mixture to a blender and process until smooth. For an even smoother texture (seductive, but hardly necessary), pass the blended sauce through a fine-mesh strainer.