Monday, February 18, 2013

EASY TOMATO SAUCE




One of my favorite things in life is to have a big ol’ pot of tomato sauce simmering the day away on my stove.  Let’s face it, most of the time we don’t have a whole day to make tomato sauce; we’re busy, hungry people.  Yes, I know that you could open up a jar of sauce from the super market; but quite frankly, most of those don’t taste very good and/or they’re expensive.

Notice that the title is Easy Tomato Sauce, not Quick Tomato Sauce.  The sauce does need a little time to simmer to concentrate the flavors, but it’s made in less than an hour as opposed to the whole dang day. 

Apparently I’m not very good at keeping secrets, cuz I’m about to give mine away…the secret to this sauce is a can of tomato juice.  The concentrated tomato flavor in the juice makes the sauce taste like it simmered for hours.  

Why not tomato paste?  It’s a whole different flavor.  If I were to make a meat sauce I would have added tomato paste…



But I tossed my sauce into home made fettucini...(I think there just may a pasta tutorial in my future)
And topped of this Chicken Parmesan as well (recipe is coming up next post).

Here's what you do.

Dice a small onion and mince some garlic.
Sweat the onion and garlic in a little olive oil over medium heat.

Sweet and delicious San Marzano tomatoes are my favorite.  Rather than having a pantry full of all different tomatoes; I usually buy whole  tomatoes and chop or blend them depending on how I'll use them.  When the onions are translucent go ahead and add your tomatoes...

A little can of tomato juice makes the sauce taste like it simmered for hours...

A dose of dried herbs...

...A bit of sugar...

And simmer for about 45 minutes.  This allows the flavors to become concentrated.  You don't need to, but if you like feel free to add some fresh Italian parsley or some basil at the end.



 EASY TOMATO SAUCE

          1                                    Small onion, small dice
3                  Cloves     Garlic, minced
1                  Tbsp.        Olive oil
1-28         oz. can         Tomatoes, if using whole tomatoes give them a chop as fine or rough as you like
1-5.5         oz. can         Tomato juice
1 ½               tsp.        Herbs de Provence, or Italian seasoning
1                   tsp.        Sugar
                                 Salt and pepper to taste

      1.       In a 3 quart sauce pan over medium heat, sweat the onion and garlic in the olive oil, until the onions are translucent. 
2.        Add the remaining ingredients and simmer for about 45 minutes; stirring occasionally.

*Note, it's not necessary, but you may add some fresh chopped Italian parsley or basil if you like.



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3 comments:

  1. Ohhhh yum! Without a doubt, I will be making this sauce! You do make it look super easy (and tasty!) Often times, I cheat and buy store-bought sauce because I'll be under a time crunch, but it looks like yours is well worth the wait! I'll make a huge batch and freeze some of it for pasta and pizza!!

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    Replies
    1. Oh, great minds do think alike...I just pulled some from the freezer and used it on pizza for dinner!

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  2. I LOVE homemade tomato sauce. It's so much better than anything that comes in a jar. Great recipe!!

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