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["1) Wash the tomatoes in cold water. Cut them in half lengthwise. Place in a heavy saucepan (I use an All Clad sauce pan, the tomatoes should fill no higher than 1/2 the height of the pan), COVER, and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes. (If using canned tomatoes, ignore this step and start at step #3 with 4 cups of canned tomatoes with their juice)", "", "2) Meanwhile, put 3-4 Tablespoons of the olive oil in a small saute pan, place it on medium heat and saute the carrots for 10 minutes. (The goal here is to get them to soften up a bit before added to the sauce to make it easier to pass through the food mill later. If you have an ""industrial strength"" food mill, this step is not necessary, proceed straight to step #3).", "", "3) Add the carrots, onion, salt (I recommend 11/2 teaspoons for this quantity, but this needs to be adjusted for personal taste and health considerations accordingly) and sugar and cook at a steady simmer UNCOVERED, for 30 minutes.", "", "4) Puree everything through a food mill into fresh pan (or transfer the sauce to another pan or bowl and puree it back into this saucepan), using the disc with the smallest holes. This is the most arduous step, but it's important to use the right disc to remove the skin and seeds, and you want to end up with no more than 1/2 cup of vegetable matter left in the food mill to maximize the flavor of the sauce. Make sure and scrape off the bottom of the disc with a spatula to get all of the pureed vegetables. Get the kids to help if your arms get tired! This step takes about 10-15 minutes.", "", "5) Add the remaining olive oil (what wasn't used to saute the carrots) to the sauce and cook UNCOVERED for an additional 15 minutes. Taste and correct for salt.", "", "Note: This sauce is well suited for most kinds of pasta, and can be used on top of Italian style meatloaf with great results. If frozen, defrost and simmer lightly, UNCOVERED, for just 10 minutes."]
