Plum tomatoes, with their small, oval shape and hearty red color, are well suited for making tomato sauce. According to the University of California-Davis, plum tomatoes contain fewer seeds and more pulp than some other tomato varieties, making them ideal for saucing. Use perfectly ripe plum tomatoes, either home grown or from a market, and cook them down into a thick and delicious tomato sauce to pour over pasta.
Fill the larger stockpot about 2/3 full of water and place the stockpot onto the stovetop. Boil the water.
Fill the large bowl about 2/3 full of cold water and add about 15 ice cubes to the water to make it very cold.
Wash the tomatoes in cool water. Remove any stems and cut away any blemishes you may find.
Place the plum tomatoes into the boiling water for one minute. Boiling the tomatoes for a short time will enable you to remove the skins easily.
Remove the tomatoes from the boiling water and immediately place them into the ice water.
Remove the tomatoes from the ice water after about one minute. Push on the outside edge of each tomato and the skins should peel off easily. Remove the skins and discard them, placing the skinned tomatoes in the medium bowl.
Place the tomatoes on the cutting board. Chop the skinned tomatoes into quarters with the knife.
Pour the olive oil into the smaller stockpot. Place the stockpot onto the stovetop and set the burner to medium. Add the chopped onions and garlic to the olive oil and cook them for about two minutes, stirring gently.
Add the prepared tomatoes to the hot ingredients in the stockpot. Cook and stir the ingredients for between five and seven minutes. As you cook and stir, the tomatoes will cook down into a thick sauce. Keep stirring to break up the tomatoes and create the liquefied sauce.
Season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste and add the parsley and basil. Cook the sauce for another minute or two and remove it from the heat.
Serve the tomato sauce over pasta or add it to a recipe.