You've been asking for our sauce recipe using fresh tomatoes.
We've been refining our recipe, double-checking our measurements, and now we're ready to share. Let us know how this compares to your tomato sauce recipe and the recipe your great-great grandmother carried over from Italy (we should be so lucky!).
This basic tomato sauce manages to hold on to the fresh, bright flavors of a garden tomato while also providing some complexity. We hope you'll agree that the balance of acid and sweetness is perfect-o.
As we mentioned earlier this week, our tomato sauce requires a wide skillet and a food mill ...
Basic Tomato Sauce
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 finely-chopped onion
2 finely-chopped carrots
1 finely-chopped stalk celery and leaves
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon chopped basil
1/2 tablespoon thyme
2 pounds coarsely chopped plum tomatoes
2 teaspoons tomato paste
salt and pepper to taste
Heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add onion, carrot, celery and cook until the vegetables have softened, about 10 minutes.
Add the garlic, basil and thyme and cook for an additional minute.
Decrease the heat to low and stir in the tomatoes, tomato paste and the salt and pepper. Don't forget the salt, it will help the tomatoes break down. Simmer the sauce 25-30 minutes, stirring often, until the sauce has thickened and all the tomatoes have broken down.
Put the sauce through a food mill to remove the tomato skins and seeds.
This recipe will make about three cups of sauce.
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Aww, heck. I would make this, but I can't afford a food mill right now...
view Jim of ChewOnThat's profile
Jim, although a food mill is probably the best option, I suspect you can attain passable results using a fine mesh sieve, a wooden spoon, and some elbow grease. Just pour the sauce into the sieve and let the liquids run through, then agressively stir and press the solids against the mesh until you get as much good stuff outta there as possible. Again, the food mill probably yields superior results, but the lack of one shouldn't be completely prohibitive (I hope, since I don't have one either and want to make this sauce!)
view J's profile
I'm always bummed about tomato sauce because I have an aversion to onions (love the flavor they provide, it must be a tactile thing).
view kari-anne's profile
No food mill? No problem. Instead of just chopping up the tomatoes raw, try this:
Slice a little X into your tomatoes on one of their bottom sides. Put some water in a pot and boil it. Drop in your tomatoes and blanch them for about 1-2 minutes until it looks like their little skins are softening up. Remove from the water with a slotted spoon, drain, set aside to cool. When you can handle them comfortably, tug on your X and BAM! those skins are sliding off. I wouldn't worry about the seeds personally, but if you'd like to, chop them in half and smoosh out the seeds with your thumb. Proceed as recipe says.
Enjoy!
view RedEngine88's profile
kari-anne, i feel exactly the same way about onions! that's the great thing about sauce made with a food mill-- the cooked onions are crushed so they don't stand out.
view mfm's profile