Foodie

[dancerjodi]

So how do you make from scratch tomato sauce?

The reason I used Alton's kind of weird recipie (slice roma tomatoes in half, put cut side down on a pan, bake in oven for 2.5 hrs w/ goodies sprinked over and then mill/mush, add white wine, cook off wine for a bit) was because all of the recipies I could find online called for canned tomatoes. I wasn't sure how to get the tomato out of the tomato, you know? I come from a hamburger helper family, so this stuff is new to me! :)

The things were smelling pretty good last night after an hour but BOY did they get overcooked. Burned tomatoes produce a horrible smell. I even put the hot oregano from our herb garden in there! Ah well. We'll see how the pumpkin soup experiment goes tonight.

I feel like a defective Italian or something. At least I can make good pizelles!

Off to get some things I need for or before Dragoncon . . .

Comments

[andrewfeland.livejournal.com]

Heather's (Polish) grandmother makes the best tomato sauce I've ever had. She starts with fresh tomatoes, which she quarters and throws into a pot with olive oil and a little salt. She simmers them for a while (couple of hours, I think) and then puts them through a sieve to get rid of the skins and seeds.

She takes the sauce that's left and puts it back into the pot with a bit of sugar, whole garlic cloves, spices (fresh basil and oregano are all I can recall) and a little crushed red pepper.

She cooks her meatballs and sausage separately with onions and peppers, and then puts all of it in the sauce. She simmers it for so long that it turns a rich brownish-red color, and then caps it off by adding herbs and sugar to taste.

Her sauce almost seems carmelized, but boy, is it tasty.

We come to a pretty good approximation of it with canned tomato sauce. Use two 24oz cans of tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes to one small (4oz?) can of tomato paste. The key seems to be long, slow cooking.

I find the whole cloves of garlic (rather than using crushed, chopped, powdered, or granulated) give it a better garlic flavor, too.