Twenty-Minute Marinara Sauce with Fresh Basil

• 4 cups (one 35-ounce can) canned San Marzano or other Italian plum tomatoes, with juices
• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 7 or 8 fat garlic cloves, sliced (about 1/2 cup)
• 1/4 teaspoon dried peperoncino (hot red pepper flakes), or more to taste
• Hot water from the pasta-cooking pot
• 1 teaspoon salt, or more to taste
• 1 stalk or big sprigs of basil, with 20 or so whole leaves
• 1/3 cup shredded fresh basil leaves, packed (about 12 whole leaves)
• 3/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Grana Padano
• A 12-inch or larger skillet for the sauce, with a cover
• 4 cups marinara
• One 6-ounce can tuna, drained
• 1/4 cup drained capers, washed

1. Pour the tomatoes and juice into a big mixing bowl.
2. Using both hands, crush the tomatoes and break them up into small pieces.
3. (You dont have to mash them to bits; I like chunkiness in my marinara, with the tomatoes in 1-inch pieces.)
4. Pour the oil into the big skillet, scatter the garlic slices in the oil, and set over medium-high heat.
5. Cook for 1 1/2 minutes or so, until the slices are sizzling, then add and toast the peperoncino in a hot spot for another 1/2 minute.
6. Shake and stir the pan until the garlic slices are light gold and starting to darken.
7. Immediately pour in the crushed tomatoes and stir in with the garlic.
8. Rinse out the tomato can and bowl with 1 cup of pasta-cooking water, and dump it into the skillet too.
9. Raise the heat; sprinkle in the salt and stir.
10. Push the stalk or sprigs of basil into the sauce until completely covered.
11. When the sauce is boiling, cover the pan, reduce the heat slightly, and cook for 10 minutes at an actively bubbling simmer.
12. Uncover the pan and cook another 5 minutes or so.
13. The sauce should be only slightly reduced from the original volumestill loose and juicy.
14. Remove the poached basil stalk or sprigs from the skillet and discard (but save the sauce thats clinging to it), and keep at a low simmer until the pasta is ready.
15. To dress pasta with marinara sauce, toss and cook them together (for details, see page 105), incorporating the shredded basil.
16. Remove the skillet from the heat and toss in the cheese just before serving.
17. Bring the marinara to a boil, then add the tuna chunks (do not break them up) and the capers.
18. Simmer for 5 to 7 minutes while the pasta cooks.
19. I like dry tubular pasta, such as rigatoni or ziti, with this sauce.
20. Marinara with olives and capers makes a tasty pasta dish.
21. Use 1 1/2 cups pitted green or black olives to 4 cups of marinara plus 1/4 cup of capers.
22. A quick and delicious option is to toss 2 cups of cubed mozzarella when youre tossing the cooked pasta in your marinara sauce.
23. For a finish, top with 8 shredded basil leaves.
24. Dry and fresh pastas and raviolis.
25. Wonderful for baked pastas.

san, extravirgin olive oil, garlic, peperoncino, water, salt, stalk, fresh basil, freshly grated parmigianoreggiano, larger skillet, marinara, tuna, capers

Taken from www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/twenty-minute-marinara-sauce-with-fresh-basil-384439 (may not work)