Thick Tomato Sauce

1 tablespoon polyunsaturated vegetable oil
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
1 1/2 x 400 g/14 oz cans Italian plum tomatoes
4 tablespoons tomato puree
salt
freshly ground black pepper
pinch of sugar
1/2 bay leaf
2 teaspoons chopped basil

Heat the oil in a broad pan. Cook the onion slowly until softened. Do not let the onion colour more than a pale yellow. Add the garlic towards the end. Pour in the canned tomatoes with their juice and the tomato puree. Chop roughly in the pan with the edge of a palette knife. Add the salt, pepper, sugar and bay leaf.

Simmer slowly for 1 hour with the lid off, until reduced to a thick sauce, stirring now and then. Add the chopped basil for the last few minutes of cooking only.

MAKES about 450 ml/1/4 pint