For years I thought that spaghetti sauce only came in a bottle or can.  When  
I learned that it could be made homemade I thought you had to add tons of meat 
or at least meatballs or it wasn’t really spaghetti sauce.  Alas, I was wrong.  Most Italian 
spaghetti sauces are light,  fragrant with basil and garlic, and rarely contain meat.  It is 
easy to make and the recipe below might convince you to stop making those heavy 
meat sauces and enjoy a light Italian pasta that won’t add inches to your hips.  
At our house we use this recipe (named for my son who says it's his favorite food)
on all types of pasta but it is also our pizza sauce as well.  
(Below is a picture of Michael in Positano, Italy eating pasta with his tomato sauce )

MICHAEL'S TOMATO SAUCE

12 Roma tomatoes, washed and cut in half
4 garlic cloves, crushed
12 to 15 fresh basil leaves, coarsely chopped
2 T. sugar
Salt to taste

Put tomatoes, garlic and basil into a large pot and cook over medium heat for 
approximately one hour or until the mixture turns to mush. (No need to add liquid, 
tomatoes are almost 90% water)

Add sugar and salt to taste. (Some tomatoes are sweeter than others so taste, taste, taste)
 Continue to cook for another few minutes.

Put mixture into a sieve on top of another pan and pour tomato mixture into sieve.  
Use the back of a wooden spoon to get as much liquid as possible out of the tomatoes. 
 

Discard the tomato mixture.

Put juice on top of stove and continue to cook over medium heat until it is reduced 
by about 1/3. 

At this point you can use the sauce or put into well-sealed containers to freeze. 

If you’re using it for pasta, serve it with fresh grated Parmesan or Romano cheese. 

As a variation – I’m easily bored – I sometimes add chicken bouillon granules to the 
sauce while it’s cooking down or sometimes a half-cup or so of red wine. Be adventurous!