Delicioius Italian recipes are not difficult to make, as you can see with our chunky tomato sauce recipe.

This tomato pasta sauce is made tastier with the addition of garlic and basil, two traditional ingredients found in many Italian recipes.

This basic tomato sauce is a quick and easy recipe you can make any night of the week. A definite easy dinner recipe.

Prep time: 5 minutes Cook time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:
2 or 3 cans Italian plum tomatoes, seeded and roughly chopped
1 can tomato juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, small dice
1/3 cup fresh basil, chopped
Salt and pepper

Directions:
Heat saucepan over medium high heat. Add the oil. Add the garlic and onion. Cook until the onion turns soft. Add the tomato juice and cook until the juice is thick enough for the sauce. Add the chopped tomatoes, salt and pepper and fresh basil. Keep cooking until the sauce comes to the boil again and for a few more minutes, until the sauce is the thickness you desire.

Now how easy was that?

Serve over hot pasta with lots of Parmesan cheese.

• Another popular Italian cooking herb is oregano and you can use it instead of basil in this recipe. Most oregano we find is dried rather than fresh so you add it to the recipe earlier rather than just before it is served. Add about 1 teaspoon of dried oregano to the sauce right at the beginning when you add the tomato juice.