ok, two major ingredients you need:
whole or whole/peeled san marzano tomatoes
and bay leaves
make sure the canned tomatoes are from san marzano
(that's a type of tomato, imported from italy)
they're going to be more expensive than hunts, or whatever, but that's the key right there
take a couple of tablespoons of butter, sautee a clove of garlic
before the garlic has a chance to burn, add the whole tomatoes
mash them with a potato masher, or just a wooden spoon
add one big or two small bay leaves
let it come to a bubble, reduce heat to simmer
oh, add about 1/2 cup of chianti
or to taste, less if it's too much for you
let the alcohol boil out
constantly stir
add pepper and salt, to taste
add about one or two tablespoons of tomato paste
towards the end add some oregano and basil
simmer, and stir until it's the consistency you like.
sugar ONLY if you don't use san marzano
remove the bay leaves before serving
chianti is optional, but i like it
it brings out the flavor in the tomato
have that can of tomatoes open before you start to sautee, so that if the garlic starts to brown, you can stop the cooking immediately by dumping them in there.
oh, if they're vegan, you can use olive oil in place of butter
i've done it both ways, i like the flavor butter gives you, but olive oil is very tasty itself.