The most difficult part of this recipe is preparing the tomatoes - and it's not really difficult so much as time consuming. It's worth learning how to do however, as you can apply the technique to a whole bunch of other recipes. The basic idea is to get the skins off and the seeds out of the tomatoes so that you're left with firm pieces of succulent, juicy tomatoes. Now, how firm, succulent and juicy your pieces turn out will depend very much on the original condition of the fruit. Try to find good tomatoes. They are, after all, the main ingredient in this recipe. There's an old saying that goes 'You can't make a silk purse from a pile of shit.' or something like that and in this case it's perfectly true.
Ingredients
2.5 kg tomatoes
2 onions, peeled and chopped
4 or 5 cloves of garlic
1 small bunch of fresh basil
A quarter tsp. dried oregano/marjoram
2 bayleaves
A few crushed black peppercorns
2 vegetable stock cubes
3 litres of water
Olive oil
Salt
Take the stalks off the tomatoes and put all the tomatoes in a large pot. cover them with boiling water for 1 and a half minutes then drain off the water. It's worth trying to find someone to help you for this next bit and you need two large bowls. Take a tomato and score the skin with a small sharp knife. The skin should split and peel of very easily. Throw it into one of the bowls then, using the knife, cut out the green bit where the stalk was attached and throw it into the same bowl as the skin. Next, holding the tomato over the same bowl, use your fingers to gently break open the tomato and scoop the seeds out. There are two or three chambers, make sure you get them all. (After the first few tomatoes you will be an expert) You should be left with one raggedy, flower-shaped, skinless and seedless piece of tomato, which goes into the second bowl. When you've done all the tomatoes, throw away the skins and seeds. Now, either use your hands to break the tomatoes up, or slice them roughly with a knife while they are in the bowl. You could maybe use a potato masher for this too.
In a large pot, heat a fair amount of olive oil - go for a good centimetre in the bottom of the pan. Fry the onions until they are transparent, then throw in the garlic cloves, crushed. Whether you peel them or no is up to you. Swirl them about in the oil until you can smell them then add the prepared tomatoes. Everything will go 'Tsszzzz...' Add all the other ingredients except the salt. Add that when everything has been cooking for 20 minutes or so and cook for a further 10-15 minutes.