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Sitting in a restaurant at the beginning of September, I overhearda waitressask another customer, “How was your summer?”
He replied, “So far, so good.”
It made mesmile. So far? Doesn’t he realize that school buses loaded with backpack-clad children are rumbling down the street as he speaks? Or maybe instead, kids have started their Zoom classes and online learning? #2020
The more I thought about it, though, the more I had to agree with his present-tense assessment of summer. Despite the fact that school has started, early September really is prime summer time here in the Northwest. The days are comfortable and hazy. And our gardens and produce markets are bursting with fruits and vegetables of every shape and size.
This tomato sauce recipe features fresh produce that can be pulled out of your garden or piled into your grocery cart right now: tomatoes, garlic, onions, and basil. The tomatoes can be those sweet little cherry tomatoes orthe big uglyfellas (who still have great personalities). Or a combination of the two.
Drizzle in some olive oil and a generous sprinkle of salt to round off the super simple ingredient list. Add a loaf of crusty bread and a fresh salad and dinner is served.
And the steps? They are so fast and easy. What? Are you rolling your eyes right now?
If making homemade tomato sauce calls to mind standing over a bubbling pot, stirring your afternoon away, think again. Other than piling all of the fresh ingredients into the pans, this recipe requires very little hands-on time. If you have a couple of 9×13″ baking pans, a knife, and a blender or food processor you are good to go.
You can adjust everything to suit your own tastes. If you prefer a thinner sauce, bake just until the tomatoes start to burst and break down. If you like a thick, hearty sauce, then keep the pans in the oven longer, stirring occasionally. The ingredients will simmer down to a slightly sticky, sweet sauce. Once it’s pureed with the fresh basil, the sauce will be bursting with flavor and you will be swearing off store-bought sauce for life.
Up to your eyeballs in tomatoes right now? This is a great recipe to make in big batches and freeze for later use as pasta or pizza sauce or soup base. You can freeze it in containers or bags pressed flat to stack easily in your freezer.
This is definitely one of my favorite things to have stashed away in the freezer to create hot pizza, lasagna, or soup on those gray winter days. It instantly takes me back to the best days of summer. You know, September.
Roasted Marinara Sauce
The amounts listedin this recipe are just a good place to start.Adjust the ingredientsto suit your tastes.
Ingredients
8 c. cherry tomatoes or 24 medium tomatoes 2 medium onions, quartered 8-10 garlic cloves, peeled olive oil salt basil leaves 1-3 cans tomato paste, optional
Wash and stem the cherry tomatoes or wash and core the whole tomatoes. Split them evenly, in a single layer, between 2 9×13″ baking dishes. The larger tomatoes can be left whole; they will break down during the roasting process.
Toss the quartered onions and peeled garlic cloves evenly between the two pans. Drizzle with olive oil and season generously with salt.
Roast at 425 for 30-40 minutes. The timing isn’t an exact science. The combination will smell incredibly fragrant, and the tomatoes and onions will look wrinkled, roasted, and slightly charred. For a thicker sauce, cook longer and stir occasionally to keep from burning.
Remove the pans from the oven and set on the counter to coolfor 10-15 minutes.
Place a large colander inside a large bowl and dump the pans into the colander to strain out the juice. Set the juice aside.
Scoop the tomato mixture into the bowl of a blender or food processor; add the basil leaves. Puree until it reaches the desired consistency. Dump the pureed tomato sauce into the reserved juice and stir until thoroughly combined. Season with additional salt, if needed. (You could also add tomato paste if you desire a thicker sauce.)
Serve immediately as pasta or pizza sauce or freeze in plastic containers or bags for lateruse.
If you're using commercial pasta sauce from a jar, no, you don't have to cook it. It's already cooked. Just heat it in a skillet and top it with your cooked pasta. Toss/stir (perhaps adding a bit of the starchy cooking water to bind the sauce & pasta together), and serve.
An especially effective option with a low risk is tomato paste. Brown a tablespoon or so in olive oil in your pot or skillet before adding the sauce to simmer or reheat. Anchovies, or anchovy paste, are another umami-rich ingredient, so try cooking a few minced fillets or a teaspoon or so of paste into the sauce.
Simmered sauces produce richer, more complex flavors packed with umami and aromatic caramelization. The longer tomatoes are cooked, the more flavor molecules from inside the skin will be released, notes BBC Science Focus.
Add a little milk to tomato sauce for a sweeter taste to offset the acidity of the tomatoes. This is a well-kept secret amongst Italian grandmothers. In northern Italy, Bolognese sauce is never made without milk! It can be added at the beginning or end of cooking.
Yes, tomato-based pasta sauces are the best to eat straight out of the jar because they have a good balance between acidity and sweetness, so they can be served cold or hot and still taste great since the texture will be similar at both temperatures.
But sometimes it's just too watery. In most cases, the reason is that it hasn't been simmered long enough. You see, fresh tomatoes contain a lot of liquids, which are released during cooking. And if you don't give them time to evaporate, your sauce will be diluted.
Long, slow cooking concentrates the flavors and brings out sweetness by breaking down carbohydrates. Some of those carbohydrates caramelize, giving rich, "brown" flavors like those in cooked meat. Let it go too long, though, and you can over-concentrate the flavors. Eventually, it will even burn.
If your tomato sauce is too acidic and verging on bitter, turn to baking soda, not sugar. Yes, sugar might make the sauce taste better, but good old baking soda is an alkaline that will help balance the excess acid. A little pinch should do the trick.
Similar to creamy sauces like Alfredo, or meaty sauces like ragu, tomato sauce is naturally low in fat, and as a result, sometimes becomes too thick and too starchy when it's been tossed with pasta. The addition of butter helps to loosen and emulsify the sauce, making it smooth and creamy.
For any marinara purists, adding a bit of sugar to the sauce may seem sacrilegious. But the truth is, sometimes tomato sauce needs a bit of sugar. Because great sauce relies on a tomato's inherent sweetness, which is released when they're cooked down and concentrated.
Bring the sauce to a simmer over medium-high heat, then lower the heat to keep the sauce at a slow, steady simmer for about 45 minutes, or until droplets of oil float free of the tomatoes.
Blandness usually comes from lack of seasoning. When you prepare a dish like spaghetti sauce you want to season as you go, not just at the end. Salt enhances the flavor of foods as well as performs some important functions during cooking, like drawing moisture out of ingredients and intensifying their flavor.
Sauces that are tomato based.. start the sauce with lid off. When it starts to simmer rapidly, turn down heat to med-low and cover until sauce is reduced to your liking.
Tossing in strips of basil, a sprig of thyme or some oregano can take your sauce to the next level. Although fresh herbs might pop a bit more, dried herbs and spices can work just as well. Sprinkling in some red pepper flakes, a pinch of parsley and a dash of salt and pepper can liven up your jarred pasta sauce.
While the two sauces share many ingredients, the main difference is in the consistency and depth of flavor. Marinara is brighter, thinner, and more tomato forward than tomato sauce. Tomato sauce is thicker, creamier, and bears some similarity with gravy, hence why some Italians call it “Sunday gravy”.
Marinara can be left chunky; the texture of the finished sauce is fairly loose, and the taste is that of fresh tomatoes. Tomato sauce, on the other hand, is a more complex affair, starting with pureed tomatoes seasoned with onion, carrot, celery, and bay leaf, and left to simmer until thickened and rich in flavor.
Marinara is tomato sauce, but it's a thinner, simplier sauce that cooks very quickly: It only needs to simmer for about an hour. The sauce gets its characteristic flavor by the addition of garlic, crushed red pepper flakes and herbs like basil and oregano.
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Introduction: My name is Reed Wilderman, I am a faithful, bright, lucky, adventurous, lively, rich, vast person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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