That looks fabulous Phil!
Are you willing to share the tomato sauce recipe?
Its in a few places.
This thread has some details.
And heres a copy from our recipe section. I'm afraid to post the link.. The spammers may jump it, and the google bots will index it, but the link should be at the top of the forum in a notice for anyone with a post count, (or in the subscribers sections). If you have the link, its in there under Brethren Sauces. If not, ask me or a mod for the link.
Italian style Tomato Sauce for pasta, etc..
Recipe Number: 1168299923
Contributor: BBQchef33
Preparation Time: 20 minutes.
Difficulty: Easy
Ingredients:
2 35 oz Cans Whole Tomatoes(prefer imported)
1 can tomato paste
7-10 cloves garlic choped fine to make 3-4 tablespoons.(more/less to taste) More or less depending on how garlicly u like it. :mrgreen:
Medium Onion diced.
Olive oil
Heavy Tablespoon Dried Oregano
2-3 cups fresh basil, Either chopped into ribbon or torn into small pieces. chops to about 3/4 cup. Add more if u want.
3/4 tablespoon dried parsley(or fresh, a little more)
2 Dry bay leafs.
Salt & Black pepper to taste.
Cooking Instructions: Add olive oil to pot and saute onions until they begin to caramelize, add garlic. DO NOT BROWN!
Saute on low 1-2 minutes.
DO NOT BROWN.
Add juice from tomatoes and crush tomatoes by hand into pot. Add all herbs and stir on medium heat until sauce starts a low simmer.
DO NOT LET IT BOIL.
I add a few shakes black pepper and salt here
Add 1 can of tomato paste and continue to stir until paste is mixed in well.
DO NOT BOIL!
Allow to simmer ON LOW uncovered for about 10-15 minutes..
Oh yeah.. DO NOT BOIL!.
If you want a thicker/sweeter sauce, add another paste, or use a combination of crushed and whole tomatoes.
Thyme gives it a slighty sweater/aromatic flavor.. goes well if your using it for chicken parm... and especially if your making cacciatore(sp).
Sauce is ready in about 10-15 minutes. IMHO the freshest tasting tomato sauce is only HEATED, not cooked.(excludes meat sauce)
Did I mention DO NOT ALLOW IT TO BOIL.?? :twisted:
And its always better the next day.
Additional Comments:
A few things.
In my opinion, there is never a reason to open a jar of Ragu, Aunt Millies or any yukky jarred tomato sauce. Fresh Sauce can be made in the amount of time it takes to heat up a pot of water and cook the pasta.
Boiling tomato sauce is what makes it acidy or bitter. DONT BOIL IT.. Low simmer. If a large bubbles break, so does the sauce.
if it breaks, dont try dumping sugar in it to get rid of the acid. Consider it a mistake, and add more tomatoes to see if u can neutralize it a little. Bay leaf also helps. Additional carmelized vidalia onion, or a small amount of shreadded carrots also may neutralize the acidic mouth feel if u break the sauce.
This is for a chunky sauce, whole tomatoes can be replaced with Crushed tomaotes if u like a smoother sauce.
Texture of the sauce can be changed by using combinations of whole, crushed and/or puree'd tomatoes.
Crushed and puree'd tomaotes can come out like a pizza sauce if thats what u like.
To make a meat sauce, your cooking meat all day and keep it covered, low heat.. and guess what... DO NOT BOIL!!. VERY LOW SIMMER IS KEY.
For a meat sauce, I like to brown the meat a little first and drain the fat or at least some of it. Sausages get a run under the broiler first.