No-salt tomato sauce made with... (gasp) "tomatoes"???

zeppenwolf

zeppenwolf

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Doc says no more salt for zeppenwolf.

So my choices include either no-salt spaghetti sauce or a (relatively) good looking corpse.

I have seen many brands that do make a low sodium sauce, but for some reason not really available at my closest stores.

And I wanna cook my own anyhow. But I google and google and everything I find the ingredients always include "tomato paste" and "canned tomatoes".

I don't understand.

They're directly implying that their paste and canned tomatoes would make a better sauce than using fresh tomatoes... How does this make sense? And when did this happen, that tomatoes are somehow better after aging, like a wine? ( but in a can? ) And the "paste" part I really don't get.

Well, that's why I'm posting-- I'm clearly not grokking something here. I guess my question could be boiled down to (nyuk) "Can you help me build a non-salt tomato sauce which uses just fresh ingreds?" Thx,
 
I think the reason most recipes use paste or tinned tomatoes is because fresh tomatoes can be too watery to make a good sauce.
But it IS possible to make a very nice tomato sauce from scratch using fresh tomatoes, plum tomatoes are better for making sauces because they have much more flesh and less water, but in reality you can make sauce with any type of tomato.

This is my basic tomato sauce that I make when we have a glut of cherry tomatoes from the garden:
- Cut the tomatoes in half or quarters depending on the size and put in a baking tray
- Drizzle with olive oil
- Optional: add your favourite herbs (woody ones are best, steer clear of soft herbs like parsley and basil at this point), a few bashed cloves of garlic (no need to peel) or chillies
- Roast in a medium-hot oven for a while until the tomatoes look shrivelled and a bit brown around the edges
- Meanwhile sweat some diced onion in a little oil or butter, maybe with some garlic too
- Transfer the roasted tomatoes to the saucepan with your onions and add some stock (vegetable or chicken works fine), use a bit of the stock or some water to rinse out the roasting pan to make sure you get all the nice flavours
- Simmer for a while and then blend and pass through a wide mesh sieve to remove the tomato skins, depending on the consistency at this stage you may want to simmer it again to reduce
- Now add your seasoning - pepper almost certainly, maybe a little sugar (I don't usually use sugar unless I have to, but it does really enhance tomatoes), and salt if you're using it.

Can be used as a basic tomato sauce on its own, or used instead of tinned tomatoes in a recipe. If you want to add soft herbs such as basil or parsley only add them to the finished dish just before you serve it.
Freezes really well :okay:
 
epicuric said:
One minor point - beware if you are using shop-bought stock, most are full of salt.
Click to expand...
That's very true.....if I don't have any homemade stock I use Oxo reduced salt stock cubes, but they are still 17% salt (vs 25% in the ordinary ones). But actually you could just use plain water in this recipe instead of stock - I've done that before and its fine.
 
Tinned tomatoes are a really good product and unless you can lay your hands on really good juicy tomatoes then there is nothing wrong with using them IMHO. Even top chefs use them! Its a bot like frozen peas... they are a fantastic product and miles better than most fresh peas you will find (unless you grow your own).
To replace salt you could try using sumac. Or adding lots of spices.

But - to be controversial, there is really very scant (and flawed) evidence that reducing salt has any beneficial effect on reversing high blood prssure or preventing heart disease. We had a thread about this a while ago, I think.
 
@zeppenwolf that's my fresh tomato sauce recipe, very simple.

  • 10-12 Ripe San Marzano or Datterini or Cherry tomatoes,
  • Fresh basil leaves, 6
  • black ground pepper to taste
  • 2 peeled garlic cloves
  • Extra Virgin olive oil, 3 tbsp
Method

Wash the tomatoes. In the final part of each tomato, remove the green petiole with a knife and in the other part of them, making a small incision with the knife so that it can be easily peeled once removed from the water. Heat unsalted water in a pot. As soon as it is near to boil, dip tomatoes and blanch them for a short time - they should not be boiled - at least you can count to 20'' and then remove.

Fill a bowl with ice water or ice. Once you have removed the tomatoes from the boiling water, you will have to immediately plunge them into the ice to stop cooking.

Do not throw away the cooking water, it will serve to cook the pasta that will absorb the properties released by the tomatoes . Put them now on a work surface and start to peel them one by one, maybe helping with a knife.

Heat Evo oil in a pan, add crushed garlic cloves and brown them. Now add the peeled tomatoes, you can also crush them a little with a fork, add a pinch of black ground pepper, chopped leaves of fresh basil and cook for at least 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. If you feel the acidity of the tomato, you can add a half carrot, it helps to eliminate it.
 
Kitchen Basics has unsalted stocks of various kinds. We use it.

I make a basic tomato sauce using fresh and canned tomatoes. It's an old Frugal Gourmet recipe. I substitute basil for the marjoram simply because I'm not fond of the taste but otherwise follow the recipe. We freeze it in 2 cup batches.

http://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/fresh-tomato-sauce-sicilian-94011

Are you allowed salt substitutes?
 
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