Pasta Sauce

Sticky Fingers

Sticky Fingers

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My wife has challenged me to make a tomato pasta sauce (something I have never tried) so I need a recipe, yes I could go and buy a jar and hide the empty but that's not cricket is it. So I need you all to give me idea's for a sauce with a difference (no tinned Tomato's because I have so many Toms in the greenhouse) co's I need to impress her. Thanks
 
A few questions:

Do you mean a basic tomato sauce or are you looking for a sauce with other ingredients such as ground beef?

Would you/she like it spicy?

My top tip is to use some red wine. It will increase the complexity and depth of taste a lot.
 
I make it every year from home grown tomatoes. My wife normally picks every day. I make a base sauce with
Tomatoes, oregano, basil, (from garden) Evoo and salt n pepper. I taste test before freezing in 2 litre containers. Maybe sugar if needed.? It's so versatile as a base to work from. I only got about 8 litres this year, but I had a bumper crop the year before.

Russ
 
I've never made sauce from scratch (tomatoes here are terrible), but I believe the first step is to blanch (or roast for different flavor), your toms, and peel the skins off. Then, it is pretty much the same as using canned tomatoes.

With canned whole tomatoes (San Marzano D.O.P.), I crush them by hand (nice and squishy). For fresh toms, you may need to use a food processor or blender. I then add finely chopped herbs from my garden, usually basil and oregano, but I sometimes change it up for variety. I also add finely diced or crushed garlic -- a lot of it. Probably more garlic than most people would add. If I want it spicy, and I have cayenne peppers in the garden, I'll finely dice one or two of them, and add them, too.

Then I let it simmer for an hour or so on the stove in a cast iron Dutch oven, stirring a few times. Taste often for seasoning!

There is plenty of room to be creative with homemade tomato sauces. You can add mushrooms or other veggies, for example. I've never used wine, but it sounds good.

CD
 
caseydog said:
I've never made sauce from scratch (tomatoes here are terrible), but I believe the first step is to blanch (or roast for different flavor), your toms, and peel the skins off. Then, it is pretty much the same as using canned tomatoes.

With canned whole tomatoes (San Marzano D.O.P.), I crush them by hand (nice and squishy). For fresh toms, you may need to use a food processor or blender. I then add finely chopped herbs from my garden, usually basil and oregano, but I sometimes change it up for variety. I also add finely diced or crushed garlic -- a lot of it. Probably more garlic than most people would add. If I want it spicy, and I have cayenne peppers in the garden, I'll finely dice one or two of them, and add them, too.

Then I let it simmer for an hour or so on the stove in a cast iron Dutch oven, stirring a few times. Taste often for seasoning!

There is plenty of room to be creative with homemade tomato sauces. You can add mushrooms or other veggies, for example. I've never used wine, but it sounds good.

CD
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Oh yeah, forgot to mention garlic as well. Thanks!

Russ
 
caseydog said:
Did I get the blanching and skinning part right with fresh tomatoes? Like I said, I've never started from fresh toms.

CD
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I don't skin or blanch, it all gets whizzed before I add herbs. I know a lot that do it your way, I guess I'm lazy. Lmao. I also when making say chicken fettuccine, I remove 200 mls and use that for chicken parmas. The Italians have tomatoes down pat!!

Russ
 
Olive oil, chopped onion, garlic, mushrooms, diced chorizo if you have it, quartered whole tomatoes, dried oregano, paprika, red wine, stock. Let it all cook down for an hour. Chuck in some meat if you want. I did exactly this last night to use up some leftover cooked steak. No need to weigh/measure anything, simply adjust to taste.
 
epicuric said:
Olive oil, chopped onion, garlic, mushrooms, diced chorizo if you have it, quartered whole tomatoes, dried oregano, paprika, red wine, stock. Let it all cook down for an hour. Chuck in some meat if you want. I did exactly this last night to use up some leftover cooked steak. No need to weigh/measure anything, simply adjust to taste.
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Yes. I love making tomato sauce because it goes with my natural instinct to wing it. Besides tasting good, it's fun to make.

CD
 
In my south facing garden in Wales I grew outdoor "pastes" just for sauce. I never skinned them. You can use any tomato for making a sauce, but starting with paste tomatoes means less time reducing them down on the stove. Paste tomatoes have a denser, drier flesh and fewer seeds, making them meaty, thick, and ready to turn into a rich sauce. I season my sauce with salted anchovies.
My fave "sauce" for linguine is this Make a concasse of quality firm ripe toms. Finely chop a suitable amount of garlic and salted anchovies together. Gently heat through in Olive Oil. You are not cooking it, just heating it. When your linguine is cooked take it out with tongue immediately and dump into your sauce. Serve with grated Pecorino of which I prefer Pecorino Sardo. Nb is you use quality linguine it should absorb most of the liquid.
Nb These are unripened pastes, The reason they are used commercially I was told is they all get red at more or less the same time so mechanical harvesting works.These and my other outdoor pastes did not quite perform that way because of the weather in Wales
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Try to oven-bake tomatoes along with aromatic herbs (oregano, thyme, basil), garlic, a drizzle of Evoo and a sprinkle of grated cheese (Parmigiano or Pecorino).
When ready, add them to pasta drained al dente.
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Frying-pan with Evoo, garlic and diced onion, fry them for few mins (1-2), then add bell pepper cut into little pieces, cherry tomatoes (halved or whole) cook on high flame for few mins then reduce it, add a little bit if water if necessary, keep cooking with a lid, add salt and add to pasta.
 
MypinchofItaly said:
Try to oven-bake tomatoes along with aromatic herbs (oregano, thyme, basil), garlic, a drizzle of Evoo and a sprinkle of grated cheese (Parmigiano or Pecorino).
When ready, add them to pasta drained al dente.
—————————

Frying-pan with Evoo, garlic and diced onion, fry them for few mins (1-2), then add bell pepper cut into little pieces, cherry tomatoes (halved or whole) cook on high flame for few mins then reduce it, add a little bit if water if necessary, keep cooking with a lid, add salt and add to pasta.
Click to expand...

I have never done your first suggestion, but I want to now. I do something very similar to your second suggestion, with the cherry tomatoes, on a regular basis. I cut my cherry tomatoes in half. I like to use a cayenne pepper from my garden. It is very similar to the thin red peppers grown in Italy.

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CD
 
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