Yesterday we had appetite for spaghetti and tomato sauce. Always easy and quick to make. But, bad luck, no more prepared sauce in the freezer. O.k., a chance to make some new. Except cooking time its so easy and quick to do. I always like to make a few liters at a time and freeze the leftover in portions for further use. Its a recipe from Tuscany, Italy, a bit modified with my sun dried tomatoes . I like to share it with you.
As better the tomatoes are, as better your sauce.
Ingredients.
10-12 large tomato or 2 large cans (c. 1kg each) of tomatoes.
Fresh, I prefer full ripe, dark red, Roma tomatoes. If you can’t get them in good quality better use Roma tomatoes from a can, but fruit only, not the juice. The vantage is, they are already peeled.
2 small onions
3 cloves garlic
1 glass (c. 425g) sun-dried tomatoes in oil
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pinch of sugar
1 tablespoon salt
1 pinch of pepper
some water as needed
5 basil leaves
I strongly recommend to peel the tomatoes.
How to do.
Wash the fresh tomatoes, dice and core them, or remove the tomatoes from the canning.
Peel and dice the onions. Peel off the garlic and press.
Sun-dried Pomodori we can by here in Uruguay.
Heat the olive oil (I like to use the oil of the sun-dried tomatoes), not too hot, otherwise the onions will quickly become dark and taste bitter.
Just sweat the onions so that they become golden.
First cooking.
Add the tomatoes and deglaze with a little water.
Then add sugar, salt and pepper. And more ingredients if desired.
Cover and simmer gently for about 20 minutes, then crush with a blender to a fine sauce.
Second cooking.
Sift the sauce that you get rid of the tomato cores.
Put the whole sifted sauce back on the stove.
Add the garlic and simmer under supervision for at least 2 hours with very low heat.
If it gets too thick, make it more fluid with a little water.
Finished delicious tomato sauce. During an earlier occasion made a bit more rustic. Sadly my Le Creuset takes 7 liters only.
Meanwhile, the tomato sauce would have become thicker.
Then season with pepper and salt.
Add the basil at the end, the oils unfold better and the taste remains.
Finally we had our spaghetti with Tuscan tomato sauce and sprinkled with finely grated Parmesan (Parmigiano). Click on pics to supersize them.
Tips.
The longer the sauce cooks, the better it gets. I leave it cooking sometimes 3-4 hours !
Several times I received the question what to do to lower the acid within the sauce.
O.K. If needed you can add some sugar in different ways.
Add a teaspoon of sugar and/or a splash of red wine.
Add 1/2 a cup or more of good quality ketchup.
Another great way to sweeten your sauce is roasting your tomatoes, sprinkled with oregano. But – only with fresh tomatoes and then no sun-dried ones used. Just by the way, they are a delicious side dish on their own.
You also can add carrots, mushrooms, celery etc. but then its not a tomato sauce anymore.
Adding a bit of milk or cream would help too, but then you loose the nice red color quickly.
My favorite method is to add the sun-dried tomatoes, they really give great flavour.
I always let my sauce simmer for 3 to 4 hours (uncovered), enhancing the flavors ! If you have time let the sauce rest overnight and reheat carefully the next day – love and patience.
Leftovers always end up in the freezer for later use.
Later use of the sauce.
This sauce goes well with all kind of pasta and different cheeses, like mozzarella or Gruyere.
Who doesn’t like tomato sauce on pizza ? Can be a fantasy one (ham and corn) or the classic Margherita.
More of a fancy style is chicken breast on orecchiette with rustic tomato sauce, onions and red olives (left). Mouthwatering – this sauce on spaghetti and meatballs (right).
This easy to make sauce is base for dozens of different recipes. My personal base for a delicious „Sauce Bolognaise“. Enjoy !
