Mom o' Britomart's Basic (and Best) Tomato Sauce Ever

Well, admittedly I'm biased. It's my mom's cooking, after all. But if not the best ever, this sauce is definitely up there. I also think that the entire world should be forced to make potato salad exactly like hers. I mean, it should be law.

This sauce is one of my staples. It's great on its own over pasta, it's great as a base for your lasagna sauce, it's yummy with additions like vegetables, chicken, Italian sausage. If you master this sauce, you can do anything! You can rule the world! And, it's ridiculously simple & easy. Friends have raved crazily in the past, then expressed great disbelief over how how easy it is. I'm going to post a couple other recipes that use this sauce as a building block. Aren't y'all excited? As you might guess, there's no exact recipe for this, but this is awfully close.

• 1 large can (it's the one that's around 30 oz) Contadina crushed tomatos (I prefer Contadina, but Hunts is okay, too. Just don't use on of those pre-seasoned ones. Go for the plain, pure tomatoes. I also use fresh tomatos for this on occasion- roast the tomatos in the oven (hot, around 400) until the skins are getting blistery. Remove, let them cool, then peel & discard the skins & chop them up. Honestly, though, this isn't worth the effort unless they're tomatos straight from a garden & even then it's not that much better.)
• 5 cloves of garlic (to taste, I love garlic, so you might want to cut back to 2-3 cloves), chopped finely
• 1 TBSP butter (Use real butter, not margarine. If you don't have real butter, just double the olive oil, but really I think the bit of butter is tres important)
• 1 TBSP olive oil
• 2 TBSP fresh basil, chopped finely (you can use dried basil, but generally if I don't have fresh, the sauce just doesn't get any basil & it tastes fine)
• 1 cube chicken bouillon (this cuts the acidity just as well as sugar - you can skip this ingredient if you're going to add meat to it)
• 1/4 cup grated parmigiano reggiano or romano pecorino (I prefer the pecorino. I love the pecorino. Devotedly. I'm also an awful cheese snob & these are both pricy. For many years I couldn't afford them & my mother mailed them to me. My mother is lovely & generous. Anyway, any parmesan or romano will work - just promise not to use the stuff that comes in the green jar that shakes out.)
• salt & pepper to taste

Heat oil & melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic & cook for a couple minutes, until garlic is slightly golden. Add tomatoes, bouillon, basil, salt & pepper. Simmer for a couple hours. If you're pressed for time, at least half an hour. You can probably add the cheese any time, but I generally wait until the end because that's the way my mom taught me to. I doubt it matters.

See? Stupidly simple. But divine.