Tomato Pasta Sauce base

Buy fresh roma tomatoes at the end of the season by the box or canned peeled italian tomatoes by the case when they're cheap [fresh less than $1 a kilo, cans down to 40c a can]

Ingredients
12 cans peeled tomatoes or equivalent
8 cloves Garlic
1 tbsp Salt
Pepper
1 tbsp Sugar
Olive oil
Herbs

Peel fresh tomatoes
With a sharp knife cut an 'X' in the base of the tomato
Steep the tomatoes a few at a time in boiling water for two minutes, then remove to iced water.
After they have cooled, peel the skin off* - it should come away easily.

Preparation
Have the cans opened so you can assemble quickly, or fresh tomatoes should be chopped roughly.
In a large saucepan, heat 2 tbsp olive oil and fry the garlic, but don't let it brown.
Add the tomatoes. For canned tomatoes, squeeze the individual tomatoes through your fingers - saves chopping, produces a nice result.
Adjust to taste and add herbs.
When all the tomatoes are in the pot bring to the boil but immediately turn down the heat to slow simmer. Simmer for 2 hours.
The sauce should reduce slightly maybe to 75% of the original volume. Taste it for intensity and consistency.

Bottling
When the sauce is ready, it can be bottled into sterilised glass jars.
Have the bottles clean and ready, with metal caps. Don't use plastic-topped jars, the metal ones with the pop-up buttons are best and can be re-used over and over.
Have the sauce on slow simmer.

Boil enough water [fast simmer] to boil a couple of bottles and their caps at the same time.

Everything you use at this point should be clean and preferably boiled if it comes into conatct with the sauce - bottles, caps, tongs, funnel. Wear gloves and an apron. Use tongs and a wide mouth funnel.

Working quickly, take one bottle out of the boiling water and fill it with simmering tomato sauce.
Leave a small 'head-space' at the top of the bottle. Retrieve the appropriate cap from the boiling water and immediately seal the bottle. Set aside to cool [the bottles are red-hot!]. You'll know they're sealed when the tops 'pop' that's the sound the button top makes as it compresses into the top of the bottle.

Any bottles which don't seal correctly, button-in, should be used immediately or refrigerated for up to two days. Bottles which do seal correctly seem to last for a long time.

Science nut note - it's the same process as the 'egg in a milk bottle' trick - the cooling sauce within the bottle lowers the pressure within the bottle and the surrounding atmospheric pressure pushes the top onto the bottle, very securely.

Wikipedia page - Home Canning
USDA - National Center for Home Food Preservation

*compost the skins

Variations
Now that you have the basic sauce the uses of it are diverse.
Use it straight for a Napolitana sauce
Add chilli for Arrabbiata sauce.
Add capers and olives for Puttanesca sauce
Add to browned beef mince for Bolognese sauce
Add to Bœuf Bourguignon
Use on a pizza base for a quick pizza