Dad's Saffron Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:
5 pounds Roma tomatoes (blanch in hot water for a minute, core and peel the skins off)
1.5 good size onions, diced (1.5 cups will do also)
6 cloves of garlic (more if you like), crushed
2 TBS dried basil (or 1/4 cup fresh)
1 teaspoon of dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 TBS tomato paste
1 TBS salt (add less or more depending on taste)
2 teaspoon of sugar
4 tablespoon of good virgin olive oil
2 teaspoon of saffron (liquefy the saffron by grinding a little bit of the dry saffron in a bit of boiling hot water to get a bright orange liquid)

Directions:
1. Sauté the garlic in the olive oil on low-med fire.
2. Add the onions, stir to get them tender evenly
3. Cut up the tomatoes and make a smooth sauce in the blender, then add to cooking mixture of onion and garlic.
4. Add the salt, tomato paste (add more tomato paste if your tomatoes are not ripe and red), black and cayenne peppers, sugar, basil and oregano
5. Simmer on low heat until the sauce becomes a bright red-orange color, stir often to get a good consistent sauce and prevent a mess on your stove. (Let cook on low fire for at least 45 minutes). Serve with any pasta (wonderful with Angel Hair) or as a sauce for a different lasagne or pizza. This sauce is the basis of dad's Eggplant Delight


NOTE: This sauce is wonderful without the saffron too. I remember dad would sometimes sautee 1 cup sliced mushrooms or 1/2 cup shredded zucchini with the onion and get them a nice golden color. This was also delicious. In typing his recipe up, I added less salt as in America there is often a lot of salt in the tomato paste)
~*~ From Dad ~*~