Tomato Sauce Recipes? (Full Version)

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ThatDamnedPanda -> Tomato Sauce Recipes? (1/27/2010 9:18:21 PM)

Anybody got any good ones? I'm actually in the market for a couple of them, for two different purposes. I used to make some pretty good tomato sauces, but never wrote down the recipes, and over the years I just drifted further and further away from what had once made them so good. So I'm just going to start from scratch. I'd like to make one general purpose tomato sauce for pasta dishes, but I'd also like something good for homemade pizza. Or maybe I just go with one recipe that can be adapted for either purpose.

Anybody have any good ideas?



LafayetteLady -> RE: Tomato Sauce Recipes? (1/27/2010 9:37:10 PM)

I haven't made sauce in a long time. I only know how to make it in rather large quanitities and then it ends up sitting in the freezer until I give up and throw it away, lol.

I don't use fresh tomatoes, for me that is more work than I care to put out at this point in my life. One thing I will tell you is that you should always put beef and sausage in it for flavor. I like to use ground beef and I open the sausage and brown that to make a meat sauce. If you are going to use it for pizza, you can use meatballs and leave the sausage whole so you get the flavor but the sauce isn't chunky.

I use crushed tomatoes, not puree and tomato paste. Usually, 2 of the "normal" size cans of paste (which are smaller than like vegetable cans) to every 1 can of crushed. I brown onions and garlic (chopped) in the pan first with some olive oil. Add oregano, basil (crush dried to bring out the flavor), salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder, LOTS of parmesan cheese.

I used to work in an italian restaurant and the owner made the BEST vegetarian sauce. I don't know everything he put in it, but I know that he used minced carrots (you never tasted them). He also made his own sausage (have ever had any as good) and the best pizza around.

I tend to add whatever strikes my fancy at the moment. Some crushed red pepper as long as my boyfriend isn't going to be eating it (he doesn't do spicy), maybe a little chili powder even.

A lot of the flavor of the sauce can come from the things you add but aren't "part" of the sauce. Like I use the meatballs and sausage, but you could also had seafood for a fishy tomato sauce (I don't like fish). Both can be removed to keep the sauce smooth but will add a nice flavor. For those who like fish, I would say make a sauce with clams, scungilli, calamari, shrimp and mussels and then remove all the fish and use the sauce for pizza. If you like fish, that would make a nice sauce I think.

Oh yea, the other thing is to make sure you let that sauce simmer a good portion of the day to meld all the flavors together. Quick sauce just isn't as good.

Good luck!



willbeurdaddy -> RE: Tomato Sauce Recipes? (1/27/2010 9:42:15 PM)

Check out Bobby Flay's Roasted Pepper tomato sauce on foodnetwork.com. Its in a "throwdown" challenge for eggplant parm. It is the best tomato sauce Ive ever had. I dont use the salt in the sauce when making the eggplant parm, sweating the eggplants adds plenty. I also dont add honey, it is sweet enough from the peppers.



DomKen -> RE: Tomato Sauce Recipes? (1/27/2010 11:50:45 PM)

Tomato sauce for pasta
2 28oz. cans of whole tomato (not stewed just whole) (US grown will have been cooked less and will therefore stand up to more cooking better) (drained with juice reserved)
garlic to taste (2 cloves is a good base)
half an onion diced
1 rib celery diced
1 carrot peeled and diced
Basil
salt and pepper to taste
thyme and oregano (fresh or dried)(optional)
Vodka or Red Wine 1/4 cup (optional)
red pepper flakes (optional)
Extra Virgin olive Oil (optional)

Sweat onion, celery and carrot till soft and the onion is translucent over low heat. Increase heat to medium and add garlic and red pepper flakes, stir to prevent teh garlic from burning, add alcohol when you smell garlic (if skipping the booze go directly to adding the tomato juice), deglaze and add tomato juice reduce heat to keep sauce at bare simmer, add dried herbs, for rustic sauce hand crush the tomatoes and add directly. For fancier tear open each tomato and discard seeds, either way add tomatoes and simmer uncovered till the sauce reaches desired consistency. Remove from heat and add basil and other fresh herbs and a drizzle of good but not great olive oil if desired (only add the good oil when off heat and right before serving to maintain flavor of the oil).

That's my basic recipe. Should suffice for most any use.



DesFIP -> RE: Tomato Sauce Recipes? (1/28/2010 6:27:51 AM)

DomKen's is about the same as mine. But red wine, not vodka, and beef broth if I'm out of wine. I don't use hot pepper flakes though.



Jeffff -> RE: Tomato Sauce Recipes? (1/28/2010 6:28:28 AM)

Great... now I am hungry



kittinSol -> RE: Tomato Sauce Recipes? (1/28/2010 6:50:56 AM)

Eat me.



Jeffff -> RE: Tomato Sauce Recipes? (1/28/2010 6:53:35 AM)

[8D]



Aileen1968 -> RE: Tomato Sauce Recipes? (1/28/2010 6:54:08 AM)

Sicilian here...if I told you my family sauce recipe I'd have to kill ya.
Trust me...it's gooood.



housesub4you -> RE: Tomato Sauce Recipes? (1/28/2010 7:14:21 AM)

I make most of my pasta sauces in small amounts, though I do use fresh tomatoes when I grow them.

I use chicken necks to flavor the sauce, I have them in cheese cloth because I want the flavor, not the chicken.

Then I use basically the same stuff people have mentioned, red wine (never tried vodka, I'll have to)



Jeffff -> RE: Tomato Sauce Recipes? (1/28/2010 7:22:06 AM)

Sicillian's use horse necks. When they whip up a batch, they make ALOT

Jeffolini



willbeurdaddy -> RE: Tomato Sauce Recipes? (1/28/2010 9:23:00 AM)

carrots? ugh



cjan -> RE: Tomato Sauce Recipes? (1/28/2010 10:57:34 AM)

For sauce, less is more, IMO. Fresh , vine ripe lpums, peeled and seeded are best. Lots of garlic and basil to taste before serving. All other options are according to your taste, of course. An acceptables substitute are imported, Italian plums. Try Maranzano brand.

For pizza, rather than sauce, I prefer, again, good canned tomates, excess moisture squeezed out and simply put on the pie as you would any other ingredient you like. Sauce on pizza is an abo
ination.



cjan -> RE: Tomato Sauce Recipes? (1/28/2010 11:01:15 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Jeffff

Great... now I am hungry
[/quote.

Dude loves him his p-food, don't he ?



DomKen -> RE: Tomato Sauce Recipes? (1/28/2010 11:31:23 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: DesFIP

DomKen's is about the same as mine. But red wine, not vodka, and beef broth if I'm out of wine. I don't use hot pepper flakes though.

About the vodka, its 1 ounce not a 1/4 cup. It brings out the flavor of the tomatoes without really adding any flavor itself.



ThatDamnedPanda -> RE: Tomato Sauce Recipes? (1/28/2010 9:47:51 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: cjan

For pizza, rather than sauce, I prefer, again, good canned tomates, excess moisture squeezed out and simply put on the pie as you would any other ingredient you like. Sauce on pizza is an abomination.


I'm inclined to  agree, frankly. But there are some exceptions. It's rare, but I have had a few pizzas where the sauce really pulled its own weight. Generally, I prefer more of a tuscan-style pizza. You need to start with a good dough, which I've got covered, and then add a few ingredients to complement it - a layer of shredded mozzarella with a little ground parmesan, and sliced yellow and orange bell peppers, red onion, and italian sausage for a top layer. What I've been doing is spreading a layer of chopped fresh Roma tomatoes on top of the cheese, and below the peppers, onions, and sausage, and that's been working out well. I like it. It's a nice, subtle, fresh mix of flavors.

But i also remember that years ago, when i used to make deep dish, a good tomato sauce gave it a little heavier punch. I forgot that recipe many years back, but I'd like to give it a try again and see if I can duplicate that. People here have offered some pretty good ideas, and I'm looking forward to trying some of them out over the next few weeks. Thanks, everyone; i really appreciate it.



Termyn8or -> RE: Tomato Sauce Recipes? (1/28/2010 11:05:32 PM)

There are a few ingredients I've discovered. There are the usual, basil, rosemary and oregano. Onion and garlic are of course standard. Additionally one can add ground fennel or anise seed to it for some zest. Cayenne and crushed red add that zip, but each has a different flavor. You can also grind the crushed red for less assimilation time, when just crushed it takes on a "creeper" quality. Some will add sugar, but if it suits you, use dark brown sugar, it is nowhere near as bad for you, and is used in some Italian sausage, which is something I usually use.

Some use cheese in their sauce, I do not. Some use it for flavor and others for thickness. I engineer the sauce at the beginning to be thick enough without it. If for spagheetti, the really good kind that is made in a big big pot and takes all day with all the meats in it, I take the spaghetti when cooked and put it in the oven for a short time mixed with either parmesan or romano cheese. For the most delicate of flavor use aciago. This process dries the pasta a bit, which is a good thing. The sauce sticks better, and no matter how thick you make the sauce, if you put it on waterlogged pasta there will be a pool of thin ass crappy shit at the bottom of the plate. The weight of the sauce squeezes it out.

Now if you want tomato sauce for other things, mainly in the old days pizza sauce had more basil in it. I don't think tomato sauce belongs on foul or seafood so I have no experience with that, all I know it is different than what I make.

T



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