Home made tomato sauce

Kimia

HI all,

Anyone have a really good recipe for tomato sauce? I am going to make meatball parmigiana so need something fabulous for the tomato sauce!

I know this sounds weird, but I'm not a massive fan of tomatoes so the more garlic/herbs the better to mask that tomatoey taste. (I know, it's weird )

The Hill Billy

Jamie Oliver has a fantastic recipe for this in one of his early Naked Chef books. Try googling it.

I am away working all week so can't check which one just at the moment.

Kimia

Thanks! Here it is for everyone else:

Jamie Oliver's Basic Tomato Sauce


Source of Recipe

Jamie Oliver (The Naked Chef), Australian Table, July 2000


List of Ingredients


* 1 large clove garlic, chopped finely
* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 1 small dried red chilli
* 2 teaspoons dried oregano
* 3 x 400g tins of Italian plum tomatoes
* 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
* 1 handful of basil or marjoram (or both), roughly chopped
* salt and freshly ground black pepper
* 2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil



Instructions

1. In a thick-bottomed pan, gently fry the garlic with the olive oil, and then add the chilli, oregano and tomatoes. Mix gently, but do not break up the tomatoes as this will release the pips, which will make the sauce slightly bitter. By leaving the tomatoes whole and letting the mixture cook slowly you'll get a nice sweet sauce.
2. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for an hour. Add the vinegar, then stir and chop up the tomatoes in the sauce.
3. Now add fresh basil or marjoram (or both), season well to taste, and add 2-3 tablespoons of your best extra virgin olive oil.

If anyone has any variations please post them!

The Hill Billy

Yup. That's the one. It is yum.

Kimia

Quick q Hill Billy, could you use white wine vinegar instead of red wine vinegar?

trotter_inc

Hill Billy wrote: »

Yup. That's the one. It is yum.

It sure is! I like to add a little Thai 5 Spice or Sweet Chilli Sauce to give it a little kick, I think it works well

trotter_inc

Kimia wrote: »

Quick q Hill Billy, could you use white wine vinegar instead of red wine vinegar?

Not sure about this but leaving the white wine vinegar out wouldn't make too much of a difference I reckon.

In my opinion this recipe is way better than any jar of sauce you'll buy, it tastes way fresher and is far less oily than most jars. Enjoy

The Hill Billy

Kimia wrote: »

Quick q Hill Billy, could you use white wine vinegar instead of red wine vinegar?

You could. It won't ruin it, but red would be preferable. You could leave it out all together.

Shenshen

I would suggest using Balsamic vinegar instead of red or white wine vinegar. Much sweeter and richer tasting

neuro-praxis

You've got good advice here, but I'm just going to pass on my own recipe to you which is fairly similar, fairly basic and I really love it.

Olive oil
1 onion, very finely chopped, or minced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1-2 fresh chillis (optional, and depends on what I am cooking to go with it)
2 cans of chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons of tomato puree
1 tsp dried mixed green herbs, or a nice handful of fresh herbs, whatever's going
1 tsp sweet paprika
2 teaspoons sugar
Plenty of salt and pepper (salt is quite important I feel)

Warm some olive oil and saute onions, garlic and chillis if using. When soft, add all other ingredients and stir well. Leave to simmer on a low heat until thick, flavoursome and delicious.

Sometimes, I omit the tomatoes and tomato puree and use a carton or two of passata instead. Much quicker, and much smoother sauce. Good for meatballs.

stimpson

^^ Mine is very similar to this. Great base for a chili sauce too.

I use lots of fresh basil as the only herbage, and don't use the sugar. a teaspoon of balsamic/red wine vinegar makes a huge difference.

Lidl 28c tins of tomatoes are the best.

Lemsiper

Ya I think the sugar is essential to balance the flavour.

Kimia

Found a fabulous addition - roasted red peppers! Yum. And I'm roasting garlic cloves (7 of them - i love my garlic) to pop into the sauce that is bubbling happily on the stove as I type. This will then be poured over meaty mince meatballs and topped with mozzarella which will then be melted to a golden brown under the grill. Oh ya!

shinikins

I was just going to suggest roasted peppers! I prefer a tomato sauce made 50/50 tomatoes and peppers, less tart at times, and a bit more depth of flavour. You might try roasting the tomatoes too, with a little garlic and herbs, a splash of balsamic vinegar and olive oil-brings out a lovely smokey flavour and makes for a nicer sauce!

tricky D

I find that a bit of red wine near the end really adds to the flavour.

Kimia

Well it didn't turn out like I thought at all. It was bitter, so I added the tiniest bit of sugar, and it went really sweet. Not good. Now, I don't know if that's because I'm not a huge fan of tomatoes anyway, but it just wasn't great.

shinikins

Sometimes when you add sugar, especially to tomato based dishes, you need to add salt too. It balances the flavours out, and you get better results. Also, adding sugar, salt etc earlier in the cooking process works better. that way, all the ingredients have a chance to mellow and develop together, and you just need to fine tweak it later.

duckworth

Kimia wrote: »

Well it didn't turn out like I thought at all. It was bitter, so I added the tiniest bit of sugar, and it went really sweet. Not good. Now, I don't know if that's because I'm not a huge fan of tomatoes anyway, but it just wasn't great.

I'm not a big fan of using sugar - I stopped using it a couple of years ago, and my tomato sauces have only gotten better.

Make sure you use good quality tinned tomatoes - I find the best are Roma Organic tomatoes. They are only marginally more expensive than the regular ones, but are much better than the others. I find it makes a big difference to the bitterness.

Another thing is to cook the onion and garlic before you add the tomatoes. You want to fry/sweat these until the onion is soft before you add the tomatoes. This adds all the sweetness you need in my opinion. Also, during this step, make sure you dont brown the Garlic - this can give the sauce a really bitter taste.

And White Wine Vinegar should be fine, although red is better. Somebody above suggested adding balsamic, which I would never do (and I've never really seen either). The reason for adding vinegar is for sharpness to cut through the richness of the tomato, you don't want to add something overly sweet.

Also, reduce down the sauce, cook it for a good 20 minutes altogether - it shouldn't be watery.

Do the above, and I guarantee you'll have a better sauce next time!!

Kimia

duckworth wrote: »

I'm not a big fan of using sugar - I stopped using it a couple of years ago, and my tomato sauces have only gotten better.

Make sure you use good quality tinned tomatoes - I find the best are Roma Organic tomatoes. They are only marginally more expensive than the regular ones, but are much better than the others. I find it makes a big difference to the bitterness.

I used premium tinned plum tomatoes.

Another thing is to cook the onion and garlic before you add the tomatoes. You want to fry/sweat these until the onion is soft before you add the tomatoes. This adds all the sweetness you need in my opinion. Also, during this step, make sure you dont brown the Garlic - this can give the sauce a really bitter taste.

I did cook the onions and garlic first. I sweated the onion in butter until soft.

And White Wine Vinegar should be fine, although red is better. Somebody above suggested adding balsamic, which I would never do (and I've never really seen either). The reason for adding vinegar is for sharpness to cut through the richness of the tomato, you don't want to add something overly sweet.

I didn't add either.

Also, reduce down the sauce, cook it for a good 20 minutes altogether - it shouldn't be watery.

I reduced it for about 40 mins, nice and slowly.

Do the above, and I guarantee you'll have a better sauce next time!!

It was still horrible, and the only thing I appear to have done differently from you is I added a half teaspoon of sugar, and didn't add the white wine/red wine vinegar.

It was

duckworth

Fair enough... not sure what to add after that - I presume you added salt and pepper.

Try again some other time and maybe it might click - I'm not sure what's going wrong for you.

I wouldn't be able to survive without being able to make a nice tomato sauce- it's an absolute staple in our house. The recipies you were given above all looked fine - Keep trying!

And, just for kicks, try out the Organic Roma Tomatoes - I think they're amazing - you get them in Tesco or Superquinn.


Edit - Found this in the Jamie Oliver recipe - "Mix gently, but do not break up the tomatoes as this will release the pips, which will make the sauce slightly bitter. By leaving the tomatoes whole and letting the mixture cook slowly you'll get a nice sweet sauce."

Maybe this was the problem?? Somebody told me this years ago, but I always thought it was an old wives tale. I presume Jamie Oliver knows what he's talking about...

the beer revolu

For all those who use red wine in their tomato sauce, try white wine. It really is much better.
I also like to add a little very finely chopped celery with the onions.

nialljf

I use fresh tomatoes and find the results a lot more tasty than tinned ones

Drake66

nialljf wrote: »

I use fresh tomatoes and find the results a lot more tasty than tinned ones

Yep. I made my first batch of tomato sauce yesterday; which tastes pretty nice I must say. I have a bumper crop of toms this year so I hope I have room in the freezer.

greenbicycle

I completely agree with all the advise that Dukworth gave you particularly about the roma tomatos, i never use anything else, i find if you use cheap or supermarket brand tomaotos you dont get the same good flavour.

the one point i didnt agree on though was with the balsamic vinegar. i ALWAYS add balsamic, just a small bit and it makes it delicious,i would definitly miss it in my sauces. this might be a taste things though....

Shenshen

greenbicycle wrote: »

I completely agree with all the advise that Dukworth gave you particularly about the roma tomatos, i never use anything else, i find if you use cheap or supermarket brand tomaotos you dont get the same good flavour.

the one point i didnt agree on though was with the balsamic vinegar. i ALWAYS add balsamic, just a small bit and it makes it delicious,i would definitly miss it in my sauces. this might be a taste things though....

I'm definitely with you on the balsamic. An Italian friend of mine once showed me this little trick, and it's just utterly amazing, the levels of depth and warmth it adds to the sauce.

Mind you, if I wanted to make a spicey sauce I probably wouldn't add it, I think it might clash with the chili. But for a sweet, rich tomato sauce... mmmm

stimpson

greenbicycle wrote: »

i find if you use cheap or supermarket brand tomaotos you dont get the same good flavour.

I swear by the Lidl tinned tomatoes. They're sourced from Italy and I would rate them as on a par with Roma. I buy them by the tray (I use them a lot)

krankykitty

neuro-praxis wrote: »

You've got good advice here, but I'm just going to pass on my own recipe to you which is fairly similar, fairly basic and I really love it.

Olive oil
1 onion, very finely chopped, or minced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1-2 fresh chillis (optional, and depends on what I am cooking to go with it)
2 cans of chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons of tomato puree
1 tsp dried mixed green herbs, or a nice handful of fresh herbs, whatever's going
1 tsp sweet paprika
2 teaspoons sugar
Plenty of salt and pepper (salt is quite important I feel)

Warm some olive oil and saute onions, garlic and chillis if using. When soft, add all other ingredients and stir well. Leave to simmer on a low heat until thick, flavoursome and delicious.

Sometimes, I omit the tomatoes and tomato puree and use a carton or two of passata instead. Much quicker, and much smoother sauce. Good for meatballs.

Thanks for this! I've made a bolognese based on this recipe, with the exception of the garlic (i can't bear chopping or using it in it's raw form, so I used a can of tomatoes with garlic added) and I also added a Knorr stock pot and balsamic as also suggested in the thread. It's the best one I've made yet!

ginoginelli

This is an incredibly simple but delicious recipe. Its adapted from the great Marcela Hazan’s Eessentials of Italian cooking. Enjoy.


Serves 4 as a main course; makes enough sauce to lightly coat most of a pound of spaghetti.

28 ounces (800 grams) whole peeled tomatoes from a can (San Marzano, if you can find them)*

5 tablespoons (70 grams) unsalted butter

1 medium-sized yellow onion, peeled and halved

Salt to taste

Put the tomatoes, onion and butter in a heavy saucepan (it fit just right in a 3-quart) over medium heat. Bring the sauce to a simmer then lower the heat to keep the sauce at a slow, steady simmer for about 45 minutes, or until droplets of fat float free of the tomatoes. Stir occasionally, crushing the tomatoes against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon. Remove from heat, discard the onion, add salt to taste (you might find, as I did, that your tomatoes came salted and that you didn’t need to add more) and keep warm while you prepare your pasta.

Serve with spaghetti, with or without grated parmesan cheese to pass.