pasta/spaghetti sauce.....

i am wanting to make a some pasta sauce, but i want to make a large batch so that i can freeze some and use it for pasta dishes, lasagna, and maybe pizza. I have four large cans of whole tomatoes, i think a couple are san marzano, so i don't want to waste the sauce.

i make my own sauce a lot, but it is never...... hmmm can't find the word. i add canned tomatoes, onions, garlic, salt/pepper, some sugar, and tomato paste. I am not a measuring person, it is all kind of by eye.... don't know if that is it. Also, if i am using tomato paste, should i be omitting the sugar? should i also be using tomato sauce? i do not usually, i would think that would taste too.... canned?

any ideas/suggestions are appreciated......

Hi Becky, I wouldn't worry about the sugar. Go ahead and make the sauce and if it seems really acidic you might want to add it but I dont think its necessary.. I think if you start with some good onions they should add enough sweetness to the sauce. One of our method's is to start by browning some pork neck bones in the pot, remove them and add some small diced onions(sometimes we will also add carrot and celery)let them cook down and then add the tomato paste cooking it down a bit as well.Then add garlic and some herbs(basil,parsley etc..) and red pepper flake. Give it a splash of red wine if you have any around,add back the pork neck bones and canned whole tomatoes.Let cook and adjust for salt pepper. This works for us.

I'll be posting my recipe for a hearty and stellar marinara under the staples category on my blog soon. I'll go ahead and give you a heads up on it. Freezing is an excellent idea and something i do often. Just make sure you have excellent quality freezer bags.

Mirepoix (carrots, celery, onions)
3 cloves garlic
1 Large can (Costco size) San marzano tomatoes w/o basil or 6 regular grocery store diced tomatoes, drained thoroughly
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup sugar (I feel this is an absolute must)
A couple pats of butter at the end to round it all out
Olive oil
This is a very simple recipe. Sautee off the mirepoix. I add the carrots first as they take a little longer to cook, then follow with the onions and celery and garlic. When the carrots get a little tender add in the tomatoes. I'll drain any tomatoes except the San Marzano as the sauce they are contained in is so high quality. Simmer for about 30 mins. and add in the sugar then puree in your blender or with and immersion blender and you'll have the best little marinara sauce you've ever tasted. Don't add the butter in until the sauce is pureed and back in your sauce pan. I don't add in any herbs or anything. I'm just not big on herbs in my Italian sauces but if you want to you can. Also, I wouldn't mess with tomato paste. It's superfluous. To me it's like garnishing a plate of pasta marinara with tomato concasse. Why?


If you want a really great arrabiatta sauce, simply sautee the mirepoix in pork fat then add some cayenne pepper to taste. It's really easy to have a really great, authentic sauce on hand for quick access anytime you want a bowl of hearty pasta.

All my best...

Chef Dan

Well, there you have it, that ought to clear up any questions you had about to using sugar....one vote for and one vote against ..just joking

Dan B, about the comment you made. "Also, I wouldn't mess with tomato paste. It's superfluous." We dont always use it, but a couple of the reasons we do. Often we use our own garden tomatoes that we have canned at home and feel that the paste brings a "depth" of flavor that you dont get from home canned whole tomatoes. Another reason would be the addition of sweetness in the form of tomato paste as opposed to refined white sugar. Cooking it off a bit in the bottom of the pan really affects flavor of the paste. I think it works better in a sauce that is more meat based than say a marinara. But like pizza,everybody has their own idea of what makes it good.

Also, we like the tomato paste the comes in the "toothpaste" type tube. Very convenient when you only need a bit.

I always put (brown) sugar in mine because I always put balsamic vinegar in mine. Talk about depth of flavor! And I do boost with tomato paste.

Here's another idea from The Paupered Chef's blog. Bascially a reduced version of Marsha's suggestion.....

A Gastrique Primer, or How to Improve Your Next Tomato Sauce
Once we had blanched and peeled the tomatoes we chopped them, strained the seeds, and simmered it for twenty minutes into a simple sauce. Then I made my gastrique, which involved no measuring -- maybe 1/4 cup of vinegar and 3 tablespoons of sugar -- and a quick boil into something thick and syrupy.

I tasted the sauce before adding it, which was fine, clean and simple. And then I tasted it after. The difference was noticeable. Both of the most prized qualities of a good tomato -- sweetness and acidity -- were suddenly brought to the forefront. The sauce went from just fine to something special. It was amazing.


Link to the entire article....
http://thepauperedchef.com/2010/02/a-ga ... sauce.html

I got married for the first time at a very young 17 and my new father in law (Sicilian by the way) made me spend an entire day in the kitchen learning how to make "proper" sauce. I still put sugar in my sauce because that rather sweet Sicilian style is what I learned. By the way, my father in law was Tony Impellizzeri!! Same sauce recipe I believe Benny has always used!! LOL

I always put (brown) sugar in mine because I always put balsamic vinegar in mine. Talk about depth of flavor! And I do boost with tomato paste.

I thought I was the only person that did that...Great minds think alike

I think Im going to have to try this Gastrique thing next time. I like the idea of bringing a brighter flavor in to the mix.

Reading over this just makes me wish summer and tomato season were already here! There is something special about sauce from fresh tomatoes.

When I make sauce from canned tomatoes, I use 2 large cans of the diced tomatoes, 2 regular size cans of sauce and a regular size can of paste (or 2 small ones). I use apple cider vinegar, red wine and brown sugar, I don't measure but would guess it's no more than 2Tbs of vinegar and brown sugar, around a cup of wine. I only use Dei Fratelli tomatoes, only place I've found them here is at Meijers.

Well, there you have it, that ought to clear up any questions you had about to using sugar....one vote for and one vote against ..just joking

Dan B, about the comment you made. "Also, I wouldn't mess with tomato paste. It's superfluous." We dont always use it, but a couple of the reasons we do. Often we use our own garden tomatoes that we have canned at home and feel that the paste brings a "depth" of flavor that you dont get from home canned whole tomatoes. Another reason would be the addition of sweetness in the form of tomato paste as opposed to refined white sugar. Cooking it off a bit in the bottom of the pan really affects flavor of the paste. I think it works better in a sauce that is more meat based than say a marinara. But like pizza,everybody has their own idea of what makes it good.

Also, we like the tomato paste the comes in the "toothpaste" type tube. Very convenient when you only need a bit.

I totally agree about the tomato paste/meat based sauce comment. It's an absolute necessity in bolognese. I also agree with you about the depth of flavor comment. I guess one of the reasons I don't like tomato paste in a basic marinara is I like a little lighter flavor which can leave the door open to bring in so many other flavors like the pork for the arrabiatta, etc. To each his own. You are correct again. Maybe we do agree after all. lol

cheers...

Chef Dan

Ok I got to add me two bits… I don’t add sugars to my tomato base sauces, I don’t like the unnatural sweetness that they lend, and I try to cook with as little refined sugar as I can. The recipe I use is very basic, for the most part it is only celery, onion, carrot, tomato and water. Manipulating the indigents correctly creates enough sweetness to balance the acid in the tomato, and creates a sweetness that is unlike just adding sugar.

Try this recipe out some time

The recipe/method I use makes one gallon of sauce. You can adjust it to the amounts you need or just freeze what you don’t use.

3 large white onions – minced or grated
3 ribs of celery – minced
3 large carrots – grated
11/2 #10 can of San Marzano tomatoes – crushed by hand
1 sprig of thyme
1 bay leaf
Enough oil to coat a pan
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large pan over medium-low heat, add oil celery, onions and carrots. Cook for 30 to 40 min or until all the vegetables and the pan are golden and well caramelized. Deglaze the pan with a half cup of water scraping the sides and removing the fond from the pan. Add tomatoes and herbs. Fill the remaining space in the pot with water. Bring to a simmer NEVER BOIL and cook for one or two hours or until the all the water has evaporated leaving the original amount of tomato.

The caramelized vegetables add sweetness, and the long cook time of the tomato changes the acidic components into sugar compounds. But using this method mutes the fresh flavors of tomato, if you are looking for a fresher tasting tomato sauce this would not be the recipe for you........ Ragu Bolognese thats a whole other story

thanks for all the input everyone.... i love reading different ideas that are used.

I took a bit from here and some from there and this is what i came up with.....

i diced two very large onions very small and about half a cup of celery. Cooked that slowly in some olive oil. then i grated in 5 garlic cloves and let them cook. This smelled really good, and you could really smell the sweetness of the onions coming out. I then added 12 oz can of tomato paste to the onions/celery/garlic mixture and let that cook. i cooked it until it was sort of sticking but not burnt, reminding myself this was a good thing. once that was cooked i added the large can of san marzano's juice and all, i couldn't bring myself to throw away that nice looking juice. In total it was three large cans of whole tomatoes, which i crushed with my hands.

i debated about the vinegar, but it is all about new things so i went ahead with it. I only had raspberry balsamic, so i used red wine vinegar instead, 2 tablespoons. I also used about 3 tablespoons of brown sugar, some salt, a bay leaf, and white pepper ( it is all i had on hand). The vinegar is a different taste, but very good, and mellowed out after a couple of hours.

It was not thick enough to my liking, had my daughter taste it and she felt the same way. So i added another can of tomato paste.... simmered it another couple of hours..... and it tastes great.

It was fun making it a different way......again thanks for all the ideas.....

Onions and garlic sauteed in olive oil. Add in basil and oregano. Add tomatoes. NO paste. Add in salt and pepper to taste. Add in sugar to sweeten a bit and cut the acidity. GARLIC, GARLIC, GARLIC!!!

you know, i was going to pick up some fresh basil or parsley. but as i was trying to decide i thought to myself that since i am going to be freezing this, i would rather add in fresh herbs the day-of, thought that would give it more of a pop.