Easy Marinara

3-6 oz olive oil (good quality, but need not be extra virgin, save your money. The more oil you add the more flavor it will have. Beyond 6 oz will make it seem oily though.)
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced (don't use the pre minced crap, it has a bitter taste)
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes (find a good brand that doesn't have too many seeds, skins, or other unwanted crap)
1-2 fresh leaves of basil
or
5-8 fresh leaves of Italian parsley.
3/4 to 1 lb of pasta

Directions:
1. Start the water for the pasta to boil. For this recipe I use a big pot, and a little bit less than a gallon of water. Salt it with about four teaspoons of salt, don't skimp on the salt, you can always tell when pasta hasn't been salted correctly and there is no remedy after it's cooked.
2. In a 14 inch skillet or a deep sided 10-12 inch saute pan heat the oil to a medium temperature. The size of the pan is important (more on this later). Add the garlic and let it cook for a few minutes. Do not let any of the garlic get brown, at that point it's overcooked which makes it bitter.
3. Add the tomatoes and stir together with a wide, flat wooden spoon or spatula. Bump up the heat to medium high until it starts bubbling and then back it off back to medium.
4. At this point the water should be close to boiling, when it is, add the pasta. This recipe will make up to a pound of pasta, but it's best with just a bit less than a pound. Cook it until it's just al dente.
5. While the pasta is cooking you want to take your spoon/spatula and smash the tomatoes up with the flat side. Do this until it becomes somewhat smooth and the chunks are not noticeable. Depending on how much the tomatoes have cooked before you start it shouldn't take but a few minutes to get it to the right consistency, which for me is not chunky, but definitely not a smooth paste.
6. When the sauce is at this consistency it's basically done, cooking it any more will not help it. You can add a lot of different things at this point or you can leave it like it is and just add the basil or the parsley. If you just want the simple tomato sauce then turn off the heat and add the chopped basil. If you like a bit more acid, try a dash of basalmic vinegar (I'd recommend investing in a decent quality one from Caputo's in Salt Lake . . . they have this white truffle-infused number that's delicious). We will do a dash or two of Tabasco at this point, too.

This recipe is quite adaptable to various types of seafood, particularly shellfish. Use parsley instead of basil of using seafood.. When the pasta is done, the dish is done. Drain it and then put it into the saute pan with the sauce still in it. This is key to getting the best flavor from your sauce. A lot of people make the mistake of cooking their sauce in a small pan and then pouring it over the pasta in a separate dish or in the big pot, thus leaving a lot of the flavor that has been built up in the sauce (the oil that stays in the pan holds the flavor). This is one reason why it's important to cook your sauce in a large pan, you want to be able mix the pasta with it while it's still in the pan. The other reason is that it with more surface area it will cook faster, which is a big part of this recipe's convenience.

A word on serving and garnishing

Italians always eat pasta in bowls. A standard place setting includes a dinner plate with a pasta bowl on top. Pasta is always a first course, so when it's done you clear the bowls and you have a clean plate to serve your second course (which for us is usually a simple salad).

Garnishes
The most common garnish for pasta is of course Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. A few other good cheese options include Grana Padano (very similar to Parmigiano Reggiano) or pecorino romano, which is goats cheese and therefore much more pungent. Sometimes when I'm making just a simple tomato sauce I'll add a small pat of butter while I'm mixing it with the sauce. It gives it a nutty flavor that goes well with the cheese.

An Italian would never add cheese to any dish that had any sort of fish in it. It's seen as repulsive and a big no no in Italian cuisine. To garnish the sauce with seafood you can add a few drops of a high quality, robust and fruity extra virgin olive oil to each individual dish and maybe a bit of fresh pepper. I really like Greek olive oils for this (Hygea is a favorite brand) because they are similar to a lot of strong southern Italian oils.

There you have it a great meal in 30-40 minutes depending on how long it takes you to boil water and cook pasta.