My fresh tomato sauce recipe

I've been messing about with a fresh (mostly) uncooked tomato sauce for a while and, finally, today, got something I can most certainly live with for a while. I think it was the boullion cube, which I thought to add only at the last moment, simply because I bought them the other day at our (wonderful, huge) Latino mkt.

It also helped that I was able to buy several pounds of dead ripe Brandywines at the River Market (K.C.'s large downtown farmer's mkt) this morning.

Anyway, here 'tis. Comments and suggestions most welcome!

4 tomatoes, dead ripe, roughly chopped
1 clove of garlic, finely minced or put through masher
1 scallion, finely chopped
1 Mexican tomato+chicken bouillion cube
5 salad olives
2 Tbs excellent olive oil
dash excellent balsamic vinegar
1/4 c. basil leaves
1 sprig oregano, leaves only

Put tomatoes in sieve, squeeze firmly, collect extract; drain for an hour or so, squeezing firmly several times.

Add bouillon cube to drained tomato extract and reduce until it will thickly coat a spoon (roughly a 4:1 reduction); during last minute or so, add garlic and scallion.

Meanwhile, put drained chopped tomatoes and the rest of the ingredients into blender; after reduced sauce has cooled, add to blender.

Blend to a thick puree with a few chunk-ish elements remaining. Pour over suitable pasta, add a bit of good parmesan if you wish.


Pretty color, lovely fresh taste. Ummmm, works for me.

Geo

i've always liked:

quite a bit of extra V,
quite a bit of hand smashed and finely minced garlic.

get that going, but dont color the garlic.

add a few finely minced shallots, wilt.

add some red chili flakes.

stir in some SEEDED, diced tomato. leaving the seeds in will water the sauce. once the tomatoes are covered, add your par cooked spaghetti. bring the spaghetti to fully cooked, stir in some chiffonade of basil. salt to taste.

this is the simplist of fresh sauces. some wine, butter, cheese, or cream will add nuance, but i find the simplicity to be the best part.

Erik.

In Italian cuisine, the simplest tomato sauce, sugo di pomodoro, serves as the basis for a potentially infinite number of daughter-sauces, but the mother sauce is itself a delicious and popular dressing for pasta. Of course, all depends on the quality of the tomatoes. The Neapolitans, who are with justification regarded as being among the earliest of peoples to appreciate fully and experiment widely with the use of tomatoes in the kitchen, make their basic sugo di pomodoro in a maximally simple way; as is almost always the case in Italian cooking, success depends on the quality of a very limited set of ingredients and the ability of the cook to adjust relative amounts of ingredients and timing in the steps of cooking to the conditions of the day. Here are a few notes:

• The ingredients for the basic sugo di pomodoro are:
- olive oil (or lard)
- garlic or onion
- tomatoes (peeled and/or seeded, as necessary)
- salt and black pepper

• The need to peel and seed the tomatoes depends in the first place on the characteristics of the tomatoes being used. Some, even many, people do not find seeding of the tomatoes necessary in most instances.

• One uses either onion or garlic and, by individual preference, either leaves this element in the sauce or removes it after it has been used to flavour the oil.

• Simple sugo di pomodoro is not cooked a long time and, indeed, can be (with certain adjustments in preparation of the tomatoes and use of olive oil rather than lard) be used raw.

• The most likely first addition to the sugo di pomodoro would be a fresh herb and in much of Italy, the most likely herbs to be added for using the sauce as a condiment for pasta are, of course, basil and parsley.

In the late summer and early fall, when genuinely ripe tomatoes of high quality are available here, a simple sugo di pomodoro enhanced by the addition of fresh basil is my favourite tomato-based dressing for pasta.

***

In a thread (see link below) from the earliest days of LTH, initiated by Evil Ronnie, a number of fresh tomato sauces for pasta are discussed, though the basic topic of the thread is not specifically on tomato sauces.

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=1302#1302

Antonius

I'm going to ask an incredibly stupid question.

I've never made tomato sauce, and in my quest for finding a non-bitter/sugary/oversalted and outrageously-priced commercial sketti sauce yet, I've decided I may just have to make a giant pot myself one day.

The stupid question in question is: is there any nutritional/flavor value in keeping the tomato seeds in? I know that the most heat in peppers is stored in the ribs and seeds. If I were to leave in the tomato seeds, am I keeping some wonderful nutrients?

On to a less stupid question (or so I believe): In my search for homemade tomato sauce/gravy/sketti sauce recipes, I saw no slow cooker versions. Has anyone tried throwing all this goodness in a slow cooker and just letting it stew for 10 hours? If so, what were the results?

Thanks all.

Pie Lady, leaving the seeds in won't kill your sauce, it will only (slightly) water it down. When using fresh tomatoes in the summer, I take them out. When using canned the rest of the year it's hit or miss, depending on my mood. Fresh tomato sauce doesn't take more than 30 minutes to make. I couldn't imagine cooking it as long as 10 hours in a crock pot.

No kidding, 30 minutes. All this time I thought it was an all day thing. As soon as my schedule calms down (2016?) I should attempt this feat. Maybe I'll host a spaghetti dinner.

I canned a whole lot of fresh tomato sauce this summer, using this recipe, though I didn't mince the basil, just tore it up. I love my pasta sauce, but learned a few things: one, depending on the water content, you have to allow it to reduce - a slow cooker won't help you because you need to evaporate off the liquid. Two, ripe tomatoes pretty well fall apart; canned tomatoes and sauces that have a lot of texture were probably canned while they were green. I did remove the seeds as best I could, but kept the flavorful tomato water, which made for a lot of work. I found the seeds to be bitter in a long-cooked sauce - already canned or quick sauces shouldn't have that problem.

Right now, if it were me, I'd attempt to re-create the above recipe using a quality whole canned tomato and fresh basil (you can almost always find Asian basil at Asian stores, last year I used it interchangeably with genovese and liked it just as well - it's different, but not in a bad way.) Anybody have suggestions as to the best canned tomatoes? I believe Cook's Illustrated recommended Muir Glen, I haven't tried them.

I agree that leaving the seeds in has little effect on anything. Some people find the seeds a little bitter. Most people who take them out, though, do it for aesthetic reason (both visual and because the seeds are slightly difficult to chew). If you use a food mill, you'll separate the skin and seeds from the liquid and meat quite easily.

I used to make a slow cooked tomato and vegetable sauce (cooked on the stove, not in a slow cooker, for about 4 hours). I really liked it and it has a much different flavor and texture than quick tomato sauce. If you do this, not that the first thing that happens is that the tomatoes give off a lot of liquid. The sauce will look like a soup. Gradually, the water evaporates and you have a sauce. Think of it as a Bolognese sauce without the meat! I don't know if a slow cooker will get the sauce hot enough to evaporate the liquid.

Mhays wrote:I believe Cook's Illustrated recommended Muir Glen, I haven't tried them.

Actually, for whole canned tomatoes, CI recommended Progresso. In general, their guidelines were to look for tomatoes that are canned with tomato juice, rather than tomato puree. The ones canned in juice tasted noticeably fresher then the puree ones. I was happily buying the Progresso tomatoes at Lincolnwood Produce, until they stopped carrying them last month. I've found Red Gold brand (canned in Indiana, for you locavores out there) to be a fine substitute. Of course, there are also San Marzano tomatoes, which are what any self respecting Italian would be using. The Camilia Brand is a good one for those.

Mhays wrote:I canned a whole lot of fresh tomato sauce this summer, using this recipe, though I didn't mince the basil, just tore it up. I love my pasta sauce, but learned a few things: one, depending on the water content, you have to allow it to reduce - a slow cooker won't help you because you need to evaporate off the liquid. Two, ripe tomatoes pretty well fall apart; canned tomatoes and sauces that have a lot of texture were probably canned while they were green. I did remove the seeds as best I could, but kept the flavorful tomato water, which made for a lot of work. I found the seeds to be bitter in a long-cooked sauce - already canned or quick sauces shouldn't have that problem.

Right now, if it were me, I'd attempt to re-create the above recipe using a quality whole canned tomato and fresh basil (you can almost always find Asian basil at Asian stores, last year I used it interchangeably with genovese and liked it just as well - it's different, but not in a bad way.) Anybody have suggestions as to the best canned tomatoes? I believe Cook's Illustrated recommended Muir Glen, I haven't tried them.

I have a dumb question: what does the lemon juice in the sauce do? Thanks

be careful when buying so-called "San Marzano" canned tomatoes. Often they are merely packaged in Italy and are not even italian tomatoes. for instance these are domestically grown tomatoes. The label should in some way indicate that the tomatoes were grown in San Marzano and should display the DOP label (San Marzano tomatoes have been protected since 1996)


personally, I've found San marzano tomatoes to be a little disappointing - kind of stringy, gritty and a bit overcooked-tasting.

my favorite is Muir Glen's no salt added tomatoes. (But I also like Ro-Tel's tomatoes with green chili if I'm cooking mexican or indian food)

edited to add: like stevez, I also like Red Gold tomatoes.

I've also had good luck with Red Gold, now that Muir Glen tomatoes are increasingly difficult to find...

I have a recollection that Cook's Illustrated did a piece last year where they found, in some dish, that using whole tomatos gave more flavor than seeded. They found that the gell around the seeds had excellent flavor. Can anyone recall more detail on that?

Jonah

In Jan 1, '07 Cook's , they found that in uncooked salsas seeded tomatoes were just fine. But in cooked sauces, the gelatinous material held lots of water and extended cooking times, which led to a loss of brightness in taste.

So they recommended de-seeding tomatoes used in cooked sauces.

Geo

edited once to add "de-"

Pucca wrote:I have a dumb question: what does the lemon juice in the sauce do? Thanks

Not a dumb question at all: if you aren't canning, you can omit the lemon juice: it is there to prevent bacteria. The acidity level in tomatoes is variable and for safety reasons, waterbath canning requires a specific PH. I found citric acid at Marketplace on Oakton and used that for most of my sauces instead of the lemon juice. It isn't noticeable in the flavor - though my personal tendency is towards a brighter sauce anyway. More discussion here.

I'm now the proud parent of a pressure canner, so this summer, I'll be able to can a completely different type of sauce and won't have to acidulate it.

Mhays wrote:

Pucca wrote:I have a dumb question: what does the lemon juice in the sauce do? Thanks

Not a dumb question at all: if you aren't canning, you can omit the lemon juice: it is there to prevent bacteria. The acidity level in tomatoes is variable and for safety reasons, waterbath canning requires a specific PH. I found citric acid at Marketplace on Oakton and used that for most of my sauces instead of the lemon juice. It isn't noticeable in the flavor - though my personal tendency is towards a brighter sauce anyway. More discussion here.

I'm now the proud parent of a pressure canner, so this summer, I'll be able to can a completely different type of sauce and won't have to acidulate it.

Michele -

You and I were first time canners last summer. I take it from your post that you don't regret doing it. Into the dead of winter, are you satisfied with your product? I am, although I added vinegar to my tomatoes instead of lemon juice. (I thought that the acidity in lemons would vary too much, so I went with a vinegar with a minimum of 6% acidity advertised on the bottle.) My tomatoes (crushed) tend to have a slightly pronounced vinegar taste, but I'm with you, I like a brighter sauce anyway. But -- geez -- opening those cans is like opening a little bit of summer in February.

I found a good source for heirlooms, so I'll be canning some more this summer. Very much looking forward to it.

Interesting. I've always been intimidated by the thought of canning. I wonder if there are any classes on this topic.

Aschie - I'm very, very happy with my canned goods; there was a learning curve both for ease of production and for a satisfactory final product (as I mentioned before, if you save all the tomato water it has great flavor, but you really have to cook it down - I also learned that a jelly jar of sauce is barely enough for a school lunchtime serving and won't bother with that next year. I will definitely be canning again next year, though!

Pucca, I learned off the internet (with help from Cathy2 and LAZ) and did just fine. You're so meticulous, this would be a cinch for you. Start with jelly, it's easy and you can ease your way up to the hard stuff like I'm going to do next year

BTW - the True Value on Western near Lunt has the tiny (must be 4 oz) jelly canning jars, perfect for small households and gifts.

Regarding the lemon juice in the sauce....I do not like a brighter sauce at all. The first time I added the lemon juice as required and I could barely tolerate the sauce.

So, this year I bought a good pH meter - one that is within .05 accuracy, I believe. That way, I can check the sauce after it's cooked and blended and make sure it's close to 4. Anything below 4.6 is safe and they used to believe that all tomatoes were below that. With changes to our tomatoes they are now less acid, and some varieties are consistently over 4.6, hence the addition of an acid. I found conflicting info, with some saying anything under 4.6 was fine and others saying that you should strive for 4.2 or lower.

While the meter set me back a few bucks, you can find a good model on eBay for about $50 regularly, less if you catch it. For many people, this wouldn't be worth it. Since we are very particular about our sauces, it's totally worth it to me.

gleam wrote:I've also had good luck with Red Gold, now that Muir Glen tomatoes are increasingly difficult to find...

Muir Glen is in stock at Lincolnwood Produce. I was just there and they seemed to have all varieties from whole tomatoes (packed in juice) to sauce and everything in between.