Fresh Tomato Sauce (Recipe)
Feelin' saucy Are ya...?
Alright so here's the deal. Last few weeks I have not been sleeping the best. Truth be told, I have been working through some serious issues. Part of that work involves me realizing where I went wrong in certain areas of my past. This analysis is something I asked for. And since I am a big boy now, I decided to just take the pain and resume life as normal. Pain is something I am accustomed too…aren't we all.
The fact that my sleep was being affected was getting into other areas of my life. Like cooking on a whim. This mild funk I allowed myself to be in was getting in the way of this. So a few days ago I got into a good sleeping pattern, and viola, was feeling much better (and sleepier haha). Getting some good ole rest allowed that funk to flow.
On a recent Sunday morning during this period I had some time on my hands since my football team had a late afternoon game. So I decided to make some tomato sauce. Why? Because I was craving it in that instant of course. And not just any tomato sauce. One which I came up with by haphazardly checking the ingredients of many store bought brands, as well as recipes found online. Here is my version.
Ingredients
→ 2 plum tomatoes
→ boxed chopped tomatoes
→ garlic
→ scallion
→ chive
→ shallot
→ white onion
→ extra virgin olive oil
→ paprika
→ salt
→ pepper
→ basil
→ oregano
Why boxed finely chopped tomatoes…? Because they are extremely red in color, and I wanted an extremely red in color sauce. Why paprika…? Because paprika is extremely red in color, and I wanted an extremely red in color sauce. Oh, and paprika I find adds a depth of flavor in my opinion.
Fresh, ripe tomatoes are not as red…in color. Unless you decide to blanch them, but that will take too much time for me. Maybe one day I will try that as an experiment since I don't know that they will deepen in color. These super red, finely chopped boxed tomatoes are always in the fridge. When I first made this sauce years ago, I just decided to use what was available. And I liked it, so I kept it in.
Why all the chive, shallots, scallion…? Because they are all in the onion family, flavor wise. I feel like just using onion alone will only be giving a narrow type onion flavor. Adding the chive, shallots, and scallions take that narrowband of flavor and make it much wider. Your taste buds will gracefully arrive to the sharp flavor of the white onion by way of all the others since they are more mild in terms of onioniness (just made that word up thank you).
And everything else is fairly standard. Well perhaps my method of putting it all together is not, so stay with me until the end.
I make this sauce with a small food processor. If you do not have access to one, you can finely chop all the ingredients individually. Then, use the flat side of the knife you chopped everything up with to crush and smear it with some salt. The grains of salt will help grind everything up into a paste of sorts, along with the pressure of the flat blade knife. Also, if you use the non-food processor method, use finely chopped boxed tomatoes. For now, I will assume you are using a food processor as I do.
OK here we go.
Instructions
Step 1:
Cut washed and dried fresh tomatoes into quarters lengthwise. Remove the seeds, and green base of the stem and discard them. Add the remaining flesh to the food processor.
Step 2:
Poor in an equal amount of boxed tomato to the food processor.
Step 3:
Take the white onion, cut out a wedge from roughly 1/8th of it (half of ¼) . Take the shallot, cut out a wedge from roughly ¼ of it. Take one stalk of scallion, cut out only the white bit of it. Take three or four stalks of chive and a medium-sized clove of garlic. Add all these into the food processor.
Step 4:
Add a dash of salt, pepper, and paprika. Add a little fresh basil and oregano if you have it. If not, add a dash of dried basil and oregano.
Step 5:
Add roughly 1 – 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.
Step 6:
Blitz all of these in the food processor until it reaches a texture and consistency you like. Personally, I blast them all together into a fine purée.
Step 7:
The most important step, tasting it. Now, for this bit it really helps to know what every ingredient tastes like on its own. So if you are unfamiliar, taste a small bit of everything by their lonesome. Especially with the onion things, just a piece the size of your fingertip will suffice. Extra virgin olive oil has a distinct flavor as well, so you can dip the tip of your finger in some and give that a taste. It's important to know what everything tastes like on its own, or you won't know what or how to adjust this sauce.
Alright, so during the initial tasting process is when you decide what it needs. Generally if there is too much of any herb, spice, onion, or garlic, then you can add more boxed tomatoes to dilute everything. Obviously, if not enough of anything is coming through than add more of it. Texturally, I do not like a very loose sauce. If you are the same, then easy with adding EV olive oil during this step.
Ideally, there shall exist a good balance of all flavors involved with an acceptable texture and color. This sauce will be used as an accent piece to a pasta mainly. Having a flavor punch come from this sauce will be really too much in my opinion.
OK…final step.
Step 8:
Transfer the sauce over to a skillet and simmer for 15-20 minutes, uncovered. This will evaporate a great deal of water remaining in the sauce, thus intensifying the flavors slightly.
And that's it. This is super easy. Realistically, it only takes about 20 minutes to assemble (not including the simmer time). With the ingredients listed, this will cover 6-8 servings when paired with 2 oz (dried) of pasta. Oh, and I am for merely coating pasta with the sauce, not drowning the pasta in sauce. That is, I cook the pasta (to read all about pasta with an additional recipe click here). Drain it. Put a teaspoon or two of this sauce to the freshly cooked, hot pasta. Mix it all together to evenly distribute the sauce. And done.
It's delicious. It’s extremely healthy, and nutritious since you will be using fresh ingredients that are not laden with salt and sugar to preserve the sauce (like canned or bottled varieties from the store). It's easy, and keeps in the refrigerator.
This stuff is the business…trust me. Since I made it last week I have had pasta nearly every night since I can't get enough of it. This coming from someone who used to hate tomato sauce with my pasta, until I made this. From the top of my dome. It's so good that I even use this stuff as a condiment. Like I put this sh*t on everything.
Better sleep. Creating something for myself and others to share with love. Doing a little dance, scream and shout when it comes out amazing. All makes for a good time.
Funk be gone…! Bottles and cans need not apply.
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