Friday, February 5, 2010

Basic Tomato Sauce

This is the basic tomato sauce that I make. It is extremely simple and tastes great. It will store in the refrigerator for a few days or frozen for several months. I would make a double or triple batch of this and freeze it so it is ready to go when you need it. You can also add other spices that you like to change it up. Put it with some ground turkey, beef, or sausage and put it over your favorite pasta. Tip: When buying canned tomatoes, look at the ingredients closely. Good canned tomatoes should only contain tomatoes or maybe tomatoes and water. All of the other ingredients...salt, citric acid, etc. do not make good canned tomatoes. However, if those tomatoes are the best price then it is just fine and your sauce will still be delicious!

1/2 medium onion, chopped very fine (about 1 cup)
4 large cloves of garlic, minced
4 cans (28 oz) whole tomatoes (deseed by pressing through food mill) or you can use a good quality crushed tomatoes
1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
1/4 cup evoo
salt
pepper
6-8 basil leaves
2 tbsp evoo

Heat a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-low heat. Then add the oil, followed by the onions. Next, add a pinch of salt and let the onions gently cook until they soften and just begin to turn a slight golden color...not brown.

Once they’re ready, add the garlic and cook for about 1 minute or so, just until softened or until you can begin to smell it. Stir in the tomato paste and let it gently cook for a few minutes until it becomes a shade darker. Then add the tomatoes and a good pinch of salt. Now, stir to combine and bring to a simmer over medium-low heat. Cook uncovered for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching.

Once the sauce has finished cooking, turn off the heat and taste for seasoning. Add salt and pepper as you like. Add the basil...just tear into pieces by hand and drizzle with a tbsp or 2 of EVOO.

3 comments:

beckyquilts said...

Sounds delicious. Do you use this as the base for other things or do you use it as is for pasta? Go ahead and post some ideas (recipes) to use it.

Talia said...

I will absolutely do that. I use it for pasta, chicken parm, etc. I will post a few recipes tomorrow or Monday that you can use it with. You can definitely use it as is on pasta or ravioli.

Talia said...

I was talking to Stephanie last night and she asked me for a simple tomato based sauce. She said she wanted a sauce that..."won't make me feel like i need to change my last name to something italian." she is so funny!

 
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