How to thicken basic pasta sauce

[legend_018]

I usually just make a basic sauce. Cook up some onions and garlic. throw in a can of whole tomatoes (crushed by hand)....dab of wine, some oregano.

DH says its rather thin. How can I thicken it up? and how much?

[jennyema]

How long do you cook it?

A longer cooking time will evaporate some liquid and make it thicker.

[legend_018]

about 1/2 hour or so

[jennyema]

You could try cooking it for an hour and see if that thickens it enough.

Another question -- do you add the liquid from the tomatoes? If so, omit it or cut back and strain the crushed tomatoes so that you have less liquid in the first place.

Tomato paste will help make it taste deeper, too.

[legend_018]

how much tomatoe paste? maybe a teaspoon?
I was also thinking about tomatoe paste myself.

[ChefJune]

Originally Posted by legend_018

I usually just make a basic sauce. Cook up some onions and garlic. throw in a can of whole tomatoes (crushed by hand)....dab of wine, some oregano.

DH says its rather thin. How can I thicken it up? and how much?

Jenny's right -- cook it longer. and if you really want to only cook it for 1/2 hour, then drain the tomatoes before you put them in. That will eliminate much of the water.

You could add a tablespoon or two of tomato paste, but not too much. The taste can be pretty strong.

[maria]

Well, Just 'cooking longer' doesnt help much, what i do is, when i am draining the boiled pasta, i drain the pasta and reserve the water in which the pasta has been boiling, and add this water to the pasta sauce while preparing it and cook it., This water helps to really thicken up the sauce a loot. You can also add cheese to it to get a cheesy sauce pasta

[kadesma]

When making a meat sauce, we cook it all day,using meat such as stew meat or a chuck roast,we also re-constitute a good portion of dry mushrooms saving the water to darken the meat sauce, the mushrooms are then chopped very tiny and added to the sauce..This will thicken it up a lot as will taking some of the meat that is now falling apart in the sauce and putting it in a F/P and making a paste out of it. Then add this meat paste a little at a time to your sauce, it thickens it and your sauce is ready to go.We find adding meat and mushrooms also makes it richer and tastier...
kadesma

[Andy M.]

Originally Posted by maria

Well, cooking longer doesnt help much, what i do is, when i am draining the boiled pasta, i drain the pasta and reserve the water in which the pasta has been boiling, and add this water to the pasta sauce while preparing it and cook it., This water helps to really thicken up the sauce a loot. You can also add cheese to it to get a cheesy sauce pasta

You cook your pasta before you prepare the sauce????

[maria]

Yes, i add half cup of oilve oil/canola oil to the water while boiling the pasta and my pasta doesnt lump up after i drain it coz of the oil..