Tomato Sauce with Garlic and Basil

So my sister and I went into the Fourth of July Weekend with a bit of a predicament.

We were both on a diet. She, on a low carb, low fat high fiber diet. Me on Weight Watchers. And both of us have very different styles in how we approach weight  loss, programs aside.So when she agreed to eat a pasta dish as long as it was low carb/high fiber, I immediately turned to my favorite Italian Book "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking" by Marcella Hazan. And found a very lovely, very simple recipe that was very delicious to boot.

One thing I love about Marcella's recipes is that she's very precise and very thorough, especially when it comes to someone like me who has a tendency to say "oh that should be good enough" at a very critical or a point of not return in a recipe. I got a bit carried away with adding white pepper to taste so it had a tiny bit of a bite to this but I actually quite enjoyed it.

Marcella does say not to be concerned about the 5 cloves of garlic in the recipe as the taste will  mellow during the simmer and I agree. I did not taste an overbite of garlic..just white pepper. Definitely a recipe I would make again.

Tomato Sauce with Garlic and Basil 
Adapted slightly from "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking" by Marcella Hazan

Dried Basil (Marcella calls for fresh but I forgot it at the store)
2 cups canned imported Italian Tomatoes, drained and cut up
5 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped fine
5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Black Pepper ground fresh from mill
1 pound pasta

Put Tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, salt and several grindings of pepper into a saucepan and turn heat to medium high. Cook for 20-25 minutes or until oil floats free from tomato. Correct to taste with salt and pepper.

Remove sauce from heat and add basil before tossing pasta and sauce together.

Makes 4 servings.