Easy Tomato Sauce

Easy Tomato Sauce

 Tomato sauce is a really easy and delicious sauce to make and it goes with so many different things. It is another great food to make in bulk and freeze in portions for later meals. I usually make enough for at least a few meals or a couple lasagnas.

There are a few different tomato sauces; the French Mother Sauce, the Italian (of course), Mexican tomato sauce, Indian tomato sauce, Louisiana/Cajun, and of course even tomato ketchup could count. I will talk about a basic but flavorful Italian-style tomato sauce today. You can use it plain; leave it un-pureed and add capers or olives and basil to make it a marinara; or even add ground beef and make it a bolognaise.

Tomatoes were not originally from Italy; they came over from the Americas via the Spanish. The first record of the tomato in Italy was in a Neapolitan cookbook in 1692 and the first time paired with pasta in 1790.   

 

Tomato Sauce

 2, 28oz cans of crushed tomato

5 Roma tomatoes, large dice

2 Large yellow onions, large dice

10cl garlic, rough dice

3 large dried bay leaves

1/4c-dried oregano

1TBLS crushed, dried red chili flakes

1/2c dry red wine (chianti is great)

1 ½ olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

 

In a large saucepot, heat up half of the olive oil on med-high and add the onions, garlic, tomatoes, bay leaves, oregano, and crushed red chilies. Let the onions sweat until they turn translucent (the sweated onions will release sugars that will take the tartness of the crushed tomatoes away). When the onions are translucent, add the wine and cook off the alcohol, about 3 minutes. After that, add the canned tomatoes and the rest of the olive oil (the fat in olive oil brings out the flavors, use it generously!) and bring to a light simmer. Turn down the heat to low and let the sauce simmer lightly for about 45 minutes to an hour. If you want a smooth sauce, puree and then season with salt and pepper to taste. If you want to leave it chunky, season after the 45-1 hour is up.  You can freeze in freezer baggies or Tupperware, but be sure to portion them out so you do not defrost extra sauce and waste it!! Enjoy!!

 

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