Tomato Sauce Recipe


safetyfirst said:

I made it. It was good. Needed more salt and I felt like something was missing. Garlic?  I also love Rao’s

You can use salted butter.



safetyfirst said:

I made it. It was good. Needed more salt and I felt like something was missing. Garlic?  I also love Rao’s

When I made it, I minced and sauteed a few small cloves of garlic and threw it in when the tomatoes reached the simmering point.


rao’s is the best. Not cheap, though. Best price is at Kings


Shoprite Marinara (NOT THE SPAGHETTI SAUCE)...best kept secret ever.


Rao's regularly goes on sale at Shoprite (it's $5.99 this week). It's OK in a pinch. DiPietro used to sell jarred sauce that was just right.


try her pork loin in milk. Everyone claims this recipe now, but it’s hers from the classic cookbook. 


I have a version of this simmering on the stove.  I only had diced tomatoes in the pantry.  Think those will work?


I'm sure it's fine, they'll cook quicker! Enjoy! 


Nevermind, I saw you wrote DICED tomatoes. 

(But some crushed tomatoes are more of a liquid and less chunky, those might not work as well.)


well, by now, you should know or not.  Diced probably has more liquid than necessary, but you just simmer a little longer until the sauce is the consistency you want.

angelak said:

I have a version of this simmering on the stove.  I only had diced tomatoes in the pantry.  Think those will work?



Thanks all. At 45 mins, it tasted .... A bit raw.

At 60 mins... A bit too sweet.  I added some frozen meatballs and have been simmering.  We shall see.


I think I didn't put enough fat. I only had Earth Balance spread.  


After a bit more simmering,  a littke dried basil, some parmesan and pasta, it's actually damn good. Thanks db!


Does Earth Balance even have any fat in it?  cheese 


angelak said:

I think I didn't put enough fat. I only had Earth Balance spread.  



It's a blend of vegetable oils.  I think butter would add more richness.  Still, I'm very happy with the way it turned out.


Im late to the game here but had to jump in (especially since Im an Italian drummer who grew up in the City to that same aroma) .  For that simple gravy you mentioned try throwing in a carrot , it adds a nice sweetness and also cuts down some of the acidity from the tomatos......

Eat, drink, drum and be Healthy

JL


Good idea about the carrot - I'll try that.

Though as recipes go, this one already strikes me as less acidic than a long cooked sauce. Does longer cooking time make something more acidic? Or less? I dunno.

I'm actually currently reading a cookbook called  Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking. Maybe the answer is in there. I'm in the acid section now.

Great book, btw. Gets down to some real basics, and explains the role of each in how flavors are formed.



I realize that this is not authentic, but has anyone tried to make it with leeks (shredded) instead of the onion?


Can you put this sauce over something other than pasta?  Like one of those fake pasta vegetable spiral things?   


drummerboy said:
Good idea about the carrot - I'll try that.
Though as recipes go, this one already strikes me as less acidic than a long cooked sauce. Does longer cooking time make something more acidic? Or less? I dunno.

I'm actually currently reading a cookbook called  Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking. Maybe the answer is in there. I'm in the acid section now.

Great book, btw. Gets down to some real basics, and explains the role of each in how flavors are formed.



 I've been watching Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat on Netflix.  Enjoying it a lot.  It's a little cutesy in places, but overall it's extremely interesting and fun.


angelak said:


drummerboy said:
Good idea about the carrot - I'll try that.
Though as recipes go, this one already strikes me as less acidic than a long cooked sauce. Does longer cooking time make something more acidic? Or less? I dunno.

I'm actually currently reading a cookbook called  Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking. Maybe the answer is in there. I'm in the acid section now.

Great book, btw. Gets down to some real basics, and explains the role of each in how flavors are formed.
 I've been watching Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat on Netflix.  Enjoying it a lot.  It's a little cutesy in places, but overall it's extremely interesting and fun.

I just started watching that too (cause I ran out of Great British Banking--thanks to you angelak) and was thinking of that.  I think the premise is true. 


Try with fresh tomatoes.  We're in one of the best farming areas for growing tomatoes.  No need to import anything from Italy or get it out of a can.  The skins come off just dropping them in boiling water and the taste difference is just amazing.


nan said:


angelak said:

drummerboy said:
Good idea about the carrot - I'll try that.
Though as recipes go, this one already strikes me as less acidic than a long cooked sauce. Does longer cooking time make something more acidic? Or less? I dunno.

I'm actually currently reading a cookbook called  Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking. Maybe the answer is in there. I'm in the acid section now.

Great book, btw. Gets down to some real basics, and explains the role of each in how flavors are formed.
 I've been watching Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat on Netflix.  Enjoying it a lot.  It's a little cutesy in places, but overall it's extremely interesting and fun.
I just started watching that too (cause I ran out of Great British Banking--thanks to you angelak) and was thinking of that.  I think the premise is true. 

 I was thinking the music sounds a lot like Great British Baking Show.  It seems really similar.  I keep forgetting to look up who did the music.


dr_matt said:
Try with fresh tomatoes.  We're in one of the best farming areas for growing tomatoes.  No need to import anything from Italy or get it out of a can.  The skins come off just dropping them in boiling water and the taste difference is just amazing.

Fresh tomatoes give a quite different sauce than canned tomatoes. Yes it tastes very different, but whether it's "better" or not is the stuff of many long conversations. cheese

on a side note - I can't tell you how frustrating it is to try and find a good supermarket tomato in this supposed promised land of tomato farming. You can find them in farmer's markets of course, but the price is kind of crazy. I tend to think that most of NJ's tomato farming produces the same kind of pink/hard/tasteless tomatoes that we get from California (or wherever they come from) in the off season.

I'm open to other opinions on this. But all I can say is that in my local Shoprite, I rarely get very excited when I see the "NJ Tomatoes" display sign. They look like the tomatoes I can get in December.


angelak said:


drummerboy said:
Good idea about the carrot - I'll try that.
Though as recipes go, this one already strikes me as less acidic than a long cooked sauce. Does longer cooking time make something more acidic? Or less? I dunno.

I'm actually currently reading a cookbook called  Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking. Maybe the answer is in there. I'm in the acid section now.

Great book, btw. Gets down to some real basics, and explains the role of each in how flavors are formed.
 I've been watching Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat on Netflix.  Enjoying it a lot.  It's a little cutesy in places, but overall it's extremely interesting and fun.

 Cool! I had no idea it was a tv show. Maybe I'll get Netflix for a month to watch it.


I've just turned it on.  They use the cutely done illustrations for the food too.   I haven't googled yet, but it must be the same people who did Great British Baking Show.


She's going over how exactly to roast Brussels Sprouts, cauliflower, and other veggies.   I love roasted veggies, especially Brussels sprouts and cauliflower.


I'm a big fan of oven roasted peppers. The long green  "Italian" ones especially.


Drummerboy,

You agree with my opinion. For years I have railed at the quality of the farmer's market tomato quality.  For their inflated prices you get tomatoes that are white and tough inside, and the texture and taste are not appreciably better than supermarket tomatoes. 

I blame the problem on the seed companies mostly.  The products which they breed for are commercial tomatoes: That is the tomatoes must survive being transported on field trucks 8 feet deep without crushing.  And must be harvested days before becoming ripe to account for transportation time.  I recall the taste of tomatoes I raised decades ago in my garden that were ripe, sweet, yet still somewhat tangy.  There is no comparison, yet today's generation of consumers has no comparison for their memory.

In my opinion the problem with farmer's market poor quality tomatoes is that they buy the wrong seeds.  The local farmer's competitive advantage should be that they can harvest immediately and transport gently and quickly.  This means that they should plant seeds from more "heritage" like stock.  I don't want my tomatoes to survive an 8 foot fall by bouncing.  They should be tender and juicy and tasty.  I believe that the local farmers are being sold a bill of goods on recommendations by seed sellers, not on customers who know the quality difference.

I doubt that there will be any farmers reading this, or even if they do, are going to give a darn.





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