Italian Tomato Sauce Frugal Gourmet Recipes

REAL AUTHENTIC ITALIAN TOMATO SAUCE (NO CAN'S HERE)

Steps:

• Wash, and core tomatoes. I also like to cut the little "nub" off of the bottom of the tomato. Just the nub, and this will make it easier to remove the skins from the tomatoes.
• Place whole tomatoes in a large pot and drizzle 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil over tomatoes. Place lid on pot and heat over medium.
• After about 15 minutes give the tomatoes a stir (I use a fork to do this), ensuring not to break them up. This moves the ones on top to the bottom to help the skins to become loose and to prevent burning any skins. Cover and allow to cook for 15 more minutes.
• After 15 minutes, take a fork and fish out a tomato from the bottom. Keeping the tomato in the pot, use two forks, or a fork and wood spoon to start removing the skins. If you like, you can take the tomato out and place on a plate or in a bowl to do this, just make sure you keep the juices. If the tomatoes are not fully ready to be skinned, put the lid back on and check every 5 minutes. (This is the most time consuming part, but once you get the hang of it, it becomes really simple.).
• After all or most of the skins have been discarded, lower the temperature to medium low and allow to simmer uncovered. This is simply stewed tomatoes at this point.
• Once an hour, check the sauce and stir thoroughly. Using a wooden spoon, start to break up the tomatoes over the period of checking them. (Note: Don't break them all the way up on the first, second of even third time of checking them. Break them down over time).
• After about 5 hours, smash all tomatoes with whatever instrument you can find that will work. Add garlic cloves whole, use more than 5 if you like, I DO! (Do not mince/chop garlic) Allow to simmer for another hour. (Note: If you feel the sauce has reached your desired consistency or is nearing, you can add the garlic earlier).
• After 1 more hour, the garlic should be soft enough to smash easily on the side of the pot and the garlic will literally disintegrate into the sauce. If sauce is at your desired consistency, you can remove from the hot eye at this point and go to the next step, if you like your sauce a little less runny, or thicker, leave on and continue to monitor to your liking.
• Once the sauce is to your desired consistency, remove from heat and add 1 cup of fresh basil leaves, stir. Fresh is important to making really good sauce. Salt to taste. If you like a little spice, add some crushed red pepper.

ITALIAN TOMATO SAUCE

Steps:

• Before you begin, pour your two cans of tomatoes into a bowl and crush with your hand. Don't break them up too small, you want large chunks.
• In a large heavy bottomed pot with a lid, on a burner with no flame, pour in olive oil and add red pepper flakes, garlic, onion, most of the oregano, basil and mint (save a little bit of each for the end), sugar salt and pepper. Turn on the burner and slowly bring up to hot. When the onions and garlic start to cook, stir and heat for five minutes.
• Remove the pot from the burner and place a heat diffuser over the burner. Place the pot over the heat diffuser and add the tomatoes. Turn burner to medium high and stir until they start to boil. Then reduce to simmer, partially cover and simmer 90 minutes.
• After 90 minutes, remove from heat and add the reserved herbs and Parmesan cheese. Add the butter to round out the flavors. Stir again and serve.

ITALIAN TOMATO SAUCE-FRUGAL GOURMET

Steps:

• In a 6 quart soup pot, add olive oil, onions, celery, garlic, mushrooms and parsley.
• Cook over med. heat until the vegetables are soft. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a slow boil.
• Turn down to simmer and let it cook for at least two hours. Stir occasionally. We like ours thick so sometimes I simmer it for three hours. Be sure to take out the bay leaves before serving.
• Great with pasta of your choice. Top with grated parmesan cheese to serve.

ITALIAN TOMATO SAUCE - HOME MADE

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Have a large bowl of iced water ready (I normally use one side of the sink, fill it with cold water and dump a bag of ice into it). Plunge whole tomatoes into the boiling water (carefully so you don't splash! I use the slotted spoon and roll them in) for approximately 1 minute. Remove with slotted spoon and place in the ice water bath. Let the tomatoes rest in the water until cool enough to handle, then remove peel and squeeze out seeds. Puree the tomatoes in a blender or food processor. If you would like your sauce to be "chunky", chop two or three of the tomatoes and set aside.
• In a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat, cook onion, bell pepper, carrot and garlic in oil and butter until onion starts to soften, about 5 minutes. Pour in pureed tomatoes. Stir in chopped tomato, basil, Italian seasoning, oregano and wine. Place bay leaf and whole celery stalks in pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 2 hours. Stir in the tomato paste and simmer an additional 2 hours (depending on many factors, each batch of sauce may vary in consistency. You can adjust the simmering time up or down according to your taste in thickness). Discard bay leaf and celery.
• At this point, I normally cool the sauce and then run it through the blender or food processor once more because I like my sauce to be smooth. This allows me to use it in all types of recipes and, if needed, I can always make it chunky again by adding some more chopped veggies.
• Storage: You can store the sauce in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks but this makes a large batch so you may want to look for alternate, long-term storage methods. I have found that this sauce freezes rather well in zipper bags or plastic containers. I have used glass jars before but they have a tendency to crack in the extreme cold. Plastic containers are more pliable and don't crack as easily. If they do crack, you don't have to worry about little bits of glass becoming imbedded in your sauce.
• I also can my tomato sauce by processing it in canning jars and a hot water bath. The Internet is full of canning instructions if you decide to can. However, once you open a jar of the canned sauce, refrigerate the remains immediately. I use 1 pint jars.
• Variation: Some people really like a sweet tomato sauce (my wife included). If this is your taste, then you can add 1 tablespoon of white sugar and 1 tablespoon of brown sugar when you first start simmering the sauce and adjust from there if you want it sweeter. As an alternative, you could also use a sweet red wine such a port or Marsala.

WONDERFUL CROCK POT ITALIAN TOMATO SAUCE

Steps:

• Place all ingredients in slow cooker and cook on low for 8 - 10 hours. The sauce will reduce several inches in the cooker resulting in an intense fresh tomato sauce.

MARCELLA HAZAN'S TOMATO SAUCE

Steps:

• Combine the tomatoes, their juices, the butter and the onion halves in a saucepan. Add a pinch or two of salt.
• Place over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Cook, uncovered, for about 45 minutes. Stir occasionally, mashing any large pieces of tomato with a spoon. Add salt as needed.
• Discard the onion before tossing the sauce with pasta. This recipe makes enough sauce for a pound of pasta.