Tomato Sauce Recipes?

[SizzlininIN]

I was watching Everyday Italian today and Giada made her Tomato Sauce..........it looked so good and simple that I plan to try making some of her version.

How do you make your Tomato Sauce?

 

[urmaniac13]

This is one of my typical "just throw things in" repartoire, therefore I never really measure anything, but they usually come out pretty uniform.

I like to use fresh ripe tomatoes, so I try to make a big batch towards the end of summer and freeze them, it is such a versatile, useful item to have around for many things besides pasta...

First I sautè chopped onion, carrots, garlic in evoo. When they are well tender, add a bayleaf then pour in some red wine, continue to cook and let the wine get mostly absorbed/evaporated.
Add about half/half of diced fresh ripe tomatoes(or if out of season, tomatoes out of tin) and passata/tomato puree. If you like a thicker sauce, reduce the amount of fresh/tinned tomatoes and add a little tomato paste.
Sprinkle in herbs (oregano, basil, majoram, thyme), season with s&p, let it simmer until it attains a desired consistency.
(Fresh basils are even better than dried, but add it just before the sauce is cooked, make sure you won't cook it too much, too long...)

 

[Clampy]

I just make a simple provencale sauce, which is easy to make and tastes really good.

Finely dice an onion and sweat it off with some garlic in about 5 tablespoons of olive oil. Add about 100 ml of white wine, 200g chopped tomatoes, and 3 tablespoons tomato puree. Break up a vegetable stock cube and stir it all in. Season with salt and pepper and cook for about 20 mins.

It is easy, and I find if you add a little sugar, it helps take the bitterness of the tomato away.

 

[SizzlininIN]

They both sound delicious!

 

[subfuscpersona]

My family would know that something's seriously wrong if there weren't a few containers of homemade tomato sauce in the freezer. My approach is similar to urmaniac's except...

The veggies I use are chopped onion, garlic, celery (I always use outer stalks since they have more flavor) and green pepper, sauteed in a little olive oil (add chopped garlic towards the end of sauteeing so they won't burn - they cook quickly). Then add a can of Italian (aka Roma, aka plum) tomatoes, drained plus some tomato paste to thicken. Seasonings: salt, fresh ground pepper, some of the *light green* leaves from the inner stalks of that celery bunch (don't use outer dark green celery leaves - they can be bitter), maybe some fresh parsley if I have some on hand, or basil.

Simmer on low heat, covered, until veggies are soft. Puree. Return to pot, if necessary, reheat to warm and check seasoning. (I may add a small additional amount of tomato paste at this stage.) Off heat. If not rushed, I like to let the sauce sit on stove (or in frig) for a few hours (or overnight) to help the flavors blend.

I've never found canned tomatoes to be acidic (I think its been bred out of them by commerical growers), so I've never needed to add sugar to counteract this.

You'll notice I don't use carrot, which is usually an ingredient in almost every tomato sauce recipe I've seen. IMHO, it adds a subtle sweetness that we don't like. I suspect the addition of carrot (which is naturally sweet when cooked a long time) is a hold-over from the time when tomatoes did tend to be more acidic and was used, similarly to sugar, to provide a counterbalance.

 

[Ishbel]

I don't use carrots, either. Tomatoes, (usually tinned plum), olive oil, onions and garlic, with lots of basil at the end. Allow to reduce until the sauce is the required thickness.