italian tomato sauce
Discussion
an old Italian friend of mine used to make this fantatsic pasta sauce
it was a tomato type sauce, spicy, no meat, quite liquid/runny .. but the big thing about it was it was quite sweet and had caramelised something or other in it (maybe onions). Anyone have any ideas what it might be ? IIRC it took a while to make.. she couldn't just knock it up but it had to cook for some time and she used to make lots of it in one go. She wasn't a great cook or anything but came from a little village near amalfi so my guess it was a standard recipe ?
it was a tomato type sauce, spicy, no meat, quite liquid/runny .. but the big thing about it was it was quite sweet and had caramelised something or other in it (maybe onions). Anyone have any ideas what it might be ? IIRC it took a while to make.. she couldn't just knock it up but it had to cook for some time and she used to make lots of it in one go. She wasn't a great cook or anything but came from a little village near amalfi so my guess it was a standard recipe ?
I obviously don #t know what your friend did but if you want aswwter more rounded taste you can try the following
Fry some onion, garlic and basil stems in a bit of olive oil, until soft (not brown!) add two cans of chopped tomatoes and a swig of red wine (or martini rosso) and simmer for 30 min or so, salt and pepper to taste
You should now have some pretty good standard (if somewhat undercooked) tomato sauce
Transfer to an ovenproof dish, top with halved, extremely good (ow forget it) quality cherry tomatoes and sprinkle with brown sugar- transfer to hot oven for another 40 min or so until cherry tomatoes slightly brown and caramelized
Stir in pasta, torn basil leafs, a bit of olive oil, a drizzle of aged balsamico (if you like) and sprinkle with parmesan shavings and coarse black pepper- lovely and slightly sweet (only works with good sun ripenend tomatoes, ow wil become bitter)
Now I am hungry...
edited to sort worst dyslexia...
Fry some onion, garlic and basil stems in a bit of olive oil, until soft (not brown!) add two cans of chopped tomatoes and a swig of red wine (or martini rosso) and simmer for 30 min or so, salt and pepper to taste
You should now have some pretty good standard (if somewhat undercooked) tomato sauce
Transfer to an ovenproof dish, top with halved, extremely good (ow forget it) quality cherry tomatoes and sprinkle with brown sugar- transfer to hot oven for another 40 min or so until cherry tomatoes slightly brown and caramelized
Stir in pasta, torn basil leafs, a bit of olive oil, a drizzle of aged balsamico (if you like) and sprinkle with parmesan shavings and coarse black pepper- lovely and slightly sweet (only works with good sun ripenend tomatoes, ow wil become bitter)
Now I am hungry...
edited to sort worst dyslexia...
Edited by cramorra on Monday 23 February 20:20
Using a sprig of rosemary in the sauce is good too. Always add a little pinch of sugar as it lifts the flavour of the tomatoes and, for the best tasting sauce, buy a s
te load of fresh Italian tomatoes when they are in season and cut them in halve and use instaed of tinned tommies. Freeze the rest of the sauce in portions and it will last you a good few months.
I like to roast a whole buld of garlic in the oven, wrapped in foil with a little bit of oil. Then squeeze the cloves into the sauce.
te load of fresh Italian tomatoes when they are in season and cut them in halve and use instaed of tinned tommies. Freeze the rest of the sauce in portions and it will last you a good few months.I like to roast a whole buld of garlic in the oven, wrapped in foil with a little bit of oil. Then squeeze the cloves into the sauce.
krallicious said:
Using a sprig of rosemary in the sauce is good too. Always add a little pinch of sugar as it lifts the flavour of the tomatoes and, for the best tasting sauce, buy a ste load of fresh Italian tomatoes when they are in season and cut them in halve and use instaed of tinned tommies. Freeze the rest of the sauce in portions and it will last you a good few months.
I like to roast a whole buld of garlic in the oven, wrapped in foil with a little bit of oil. Then squeeze the cloves into the sauce.
yes oven roasted garlic is yummy, a local farmer here does smoked garlic cloves which are awesome...te load of fresh Italian tomatoes when they are in season and cut them in halve and use instaed of tinned tommies. Freeze the rest of the sauce in portions and it will last you a good few months.I like to roast a whole buld of garlic in the oven, wrapped in foil with a little bit of oil. Then squeeze the cloves into the sauce.
OK, here's one of my 'trade secrets' - bear with me...
Using half a mug (more in my case) of nice olive oil (not greek - too harsh), gently fry 2 large (peeled) onions (preferably the equivalent in shallots) finely chopped and a garlic (Yes, A garlic, papery skins removed - or none if you don't like garlic...), chopped about the same as the onion, in a heavy pot. Fry gently aiming to get them just soft and translucent.
While that's doing, take 2-3KG of fresh tomatoes (vine, plum, posh little ones, or a mix of tasty ones - or just old ones if you cook 'em longer...) and halve each one, just next to the stalky thing, remove hard stalky thing and chop roughly into bits, add to pot as you do each one until they're all in with the odd stir.
Simmer gently for about 2 hours, stirring every now and again. When reduced, so that it sticks to the back of the spoon and the taste has 'suddenly' gone from watery tomato to WOW, what just happened!!! add some salt and fresh black pepper... maybe stir in a little more oil for that emulsion look... you'll know when it's good... pull your a finger over the back of the spoon, there will be two tomatoey bits either side where your finger has been... It'll also taste like you're gods own chef... the secret is the long slow cook.
There's an option leave it 'rustic' or to whizz it up with one of those hand blenders so no one notices the skins, you can also do it the old fashioned way with a Chinois (or strain through a sieve), which removes the skin and pips, and leaves a slightly sweeter sauce (or you could remove the pips and skins of 3KG of nice tomatoes before you start - that's not for me...!)
That's the Basic Tomato Sauce how Scruffy used to make...
- now freeze portion sized tubs of it, or use it; boil good pasta, drain & stir in good (home made) pesto then tomato sauce... Plenty of good Parmigiano-Reggiano and black pepper.
I.E. now you can fanny about with it - add red or white wine and reduce - , Mussels or minced beef/pork, porchini, zuchini, eggpland, cougettes, snow peas, peas, beans etc etc...
Drop in mixed seafood or smoked chillies or use as the base for a rich rogan josh or achaar gosht or pizza base sauce, or add cream for a soup or smear on your neighbours bonnet... fk it, add sugar and reduce some more to make ketchup...
Don't add basil when you're cooking, it goes black and tasteless... you stir it in just before you serve,
The thing with Salt (or any ingredient), and this is my only cooking rule... You can't take it out once it's in...
You can also throw a few in the oven oiled and salted, and roast until they look caramellised, then either add to the above, or make sauce with these, or smoke a few in a wok (very loosely - chop, de-seed and place on steaming tray in wok, cover bottom of wok with rice and tea (whatever tea you like the smell of, burnt...) and cook (seal the wok with a wet tea towel)... or buy some...
I could go on...
edited to wipe the dribble off the screen...
Using half a mug (more in my case) of nice olive oil (not greek - too harsh), gently fry 2 large (peeled) onions (preferably the equivalent in shallots) finely chopped and a garlic (Yes, A garlic, papery skins removed - or none if you don't like garlic...), chopped about the same as the onion, in a heavy pot. Fry gently aiming to get them just soft and translucent.
While that's doing, take 2-3KG of fresh tomatoes (vine, plum, posh little ones, or a mix of tasty ones - or just old ones if you cook 'em longer...) and halve each one, just next to the stalky thing, remove hard stalky thing and chop roughly into bits, add to pot as you do each one until they're all in with the odd stir.
Simmer gently for about 2 hours, stirring every now and again. When reduced, so that it sticks to the back of the spoon and the taste has 'suddenly' gone from watery tomato to WOW, what just happened!!! add some salt and fresh black pepper... maybe stir in a little more oil for that emulsion look... you'll know when it's good... pull your a finger over the back of the spoon, there will be two tomatoey bits either side where your finger has been... It'll also taste like you're gods own chef... the secret is the long slow cook.
There's an option leave it 'rustic' or to whizz it up with one of those hand blenders so no one notices the skins, you can also do it the old fashioned way with a Chinois (or strain through a sieve), which removes the skin and pips, and leaves a slightly sweeter sauce (or you could remove the pips and skins of 3KG of nice tomatoes before you start - that's not for me...!)
That's the Basic Tomato Sauce how Scruffy used to make...
- now freeze portion sized tubs of it, or use it; boil good pasta, drain & stir in good (home made) pesto then tomato sauce... Plenty of good Parmigiano-Reggiano and black pepper.
I.E. now you can fanny about with it - add red or white wine and reduce - , Mussels or minced beef/pork, porchini, zuchini, eggpland, cougettes, snow peas, peas, beans etc etc...
Drop in mixed seafood or smoked chillies or use as the base for a rich rogan josh or achaar gosht or pizza base sauce, or add cream for a soup or smear on your neighbours bonnet... f
k it, add sugar and reduce some more to make ketchup...Don't add basil when you're cooking, it goes black and tasteless... you stir it in just before you serve,
The thing with Salt (or any ingredient), and this is my only cooking rule... You can't take it out once it's in...
You can also throw a few in the oven oiled and salted, and roast until they look caramellised, then either add to the above, or make sauce with these, or smoke a few in a wok (very loosely - chop, de-seed and place on steaming tray in wok, cover bottom of wok with rice and tea (whatever tea you like the smell of, burnt...) and cook (seal the wok with a wet tea towel)... or buy some...
I could go on...
edited to wipe the dribble off the screen...
Edited by scruffy on Tuesday 24th February 03:39
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