The perfect stable in every family's home. Quick, simple and delicious especially when it's freshly made and not from the jars off the shelf of a grocer. While there is nothing wrong in taking the shortcut, for $1.99 a jar of ready made pasta sauce to throw over top a bed of yummy carbs, there is just something special when made fresh, with no unnecessary additives.
In the past, the pastas I ate would offend the Italians. Truly! It was always overloaded with extras. Shrimp, chicken, mushrooms, corn! An american style pasta is how I would categorize my pasta. Until the day I went to an authentic Italian restaurant, family owned few years ago. I surprised myself by ordering their simplest pasta; tomato sauce. OMG! it was delicious. Pure in flavour. A perfect marriage of tomato, hint of fresh basil on a bed of freshly made pasta, drizzled with a good olive oil. Wow! definitely made that can of pasta sauce in the back of my cupboard pretty unwanted! Since this experience, I've been perfecting my tomato sauce. So with a couple of years of experience, I am confident with this recipe:)
The reason why I called it "Tomato Sauce" instead of your good'ol "pasta sauce", there are unlimited possibilities with this sauce. It is not only good for your go to pasta. Think chili! think of it as a sauce to poach your fish in! Think soup; hot or cold. I consider this a primary flavoring base. Go wild!
Tomato Sauce
Ingredients:
796ml can of "La San Marzano" whole peeled tomatoes. (this brand is full body tomato without the acidity taste that most can tomatoes have)
3 cloves of garlic - mashed
1 small whole onion - diced (i used half n half. red and white just because but white onion is sufficient!)
3-4 pieces each of roasted sweet red pepper and sun dried tomato
1tbsp each of sugar, dried basil & oregano
Optional: 2-3 dried whole red pepper
salt n' pepper to taste
Directions:
1. In a cast iron pot, on medium heat, add olive oil, dried chili, garlic. Heat for 1-2 mins until aromatic.
2. Add your diced onions. Cook until translucent.
2. Once onions are translucent, add your roasted sweet red pepper & sun dried tomato. This adds depth and natural sweetness to the sauce. Stir and cook for another 2mins.
3. Add your can of tomato & dried herbs. Do not add the sugar yet. Once you empty the can into the pot, use no more than 1/4 cup of water to remove the rest of the sauce from the can. Pour the tomato water into pot. Stir well. Lower the heat to low and allow to simmer with the cover on for 1.5 - 2hrs.
4. After allotted time, turn off the heat. Using an immersion blender, blend until smooth as shown in #4 pic. This only takes a few seconds. At this point, add your sugar, turn the heat back on to medium and cook for another 5mins, Salt and pepper to taste.
and your tomato sauce is complete! Now it's up to your creative means to cook up something delicious with this sauce!
Below are just some quick easy recipes to get you going.
Tomato Sauce & Pasta - cook pasta of your choice according to the package, while the pasta is cooking, in another pan, set heat to medium high and coat with olive oil. Once pan is heated, add desired amount of pasta sauce and heat. Poor cooked pasta into pan along with a few spoons of pasta water. Toss! coating every strand of pasta with the sauce, add greens of your choice. My favorite is argula:) once coated, serve on plate and drizzle with good olive oil. Simple!
Poached fish with Tomato Sauce -with your choice of white meat fish filet, pat dry, salt and pepper both sides, squeeze lemon juice and set aside. In a pan, heat on medium high with olive oil. Once heated, ladle your tomato sauce, add a bit of milk for extra creaminess. (trust me, its not weird :D) Stir well until well blend. Once sauce begins to bubble, turn down heat to medium add your filet fish and coat thoroughly with the sauce. Allow to simmer for 2mins each side. Time to cook also depends on thickness of filet. Use your judgement:) Serve on plate and drizzle with good olive oil with a small slice of french bread to slope up the sauce. Guilt free dish! (ok the bread doesn't count :D )
this sauce would go great with cabbage rolls, stuffed red peppers, meat ball sandwiches..... ummm good thing I ate dinner prior to writing this!!
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