I recently spent a week in Italy and enjoyed, to no end, the wonderful flavours of Italian cooking. One of my favourite dishes was Penne Arrabbiata – penne pasta with a spicy tomato sauce. When I got home, I was eager to recreate some of the great Italian flavours that I experienced. I decided to start with the basics and work on a traditional Italian tomato sauce that I could use for pasta, lasagne, pizza and soup.

This traditional Italian tomato sauce is simple to make and tastes superb. If you have ripe red tomatoes during the summer you could use these instead of tinned tomatoes. I like to serve it very simply with a bowl of al dente spaghetti.

Hope you enjoy!

Amy x

Ingredients
50ml extra virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tsp tomato puree
800g fresh or tinned tomatoes
Salt and pepper
1 tsp sugar
10 large basil leaves

Method
Heat the olive oil in a large pan. Add the garlic and cook for about 2–3 minutes
on a low heat until soft. Add the tomato puree and cook for a further 1 minute. Add
the tomatoes along with their juices and season with salt and pepper.

Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for about 30 minutes until the sauce has thickened.

Tear in the basil leaves just before serving. Store in the fridge for up to a week or freeze in batches for later use.