I've got loads of cook books and obviously the whole interweb to trawl through and yet am never quite able to recreate the authentic (and seemingly effortless) pasta al pomodoro I've had in restaurants etc.
Cheers, as ever,
Rufus.
...how do you make yours?
Buy Pelati (tinned tomatoes).
Blend or chop.
Chop up garlic, onion etc. depending on what it's being used for.
Pour some olive oil in a pot. Gently fry onion and garlic until they are clear, then pour tomatoes in and sprinkle with whichever herbs you like. Add some salt.
Put lid on.
Let cook on low heat for 2-4 hours.
Done.
It's more work to make it from scratch, but if you start with fresh tomatoes and blanch/peel/filter/and mash them, you will taste the difference.
I like to use lots of basil, and some nutmeg at the end.
If you use tinned pelati, don't cook for too long.
From scratch, I only cook the sauce about an hour.
I started with the recipe from Elizabeth David. She calls cor carrot, celery, parsely, sugar, salt, garlic.
Decades ago I learned to cook from Elizabeth David's cookbooks
Just checked her Italian Food and, as I remembered, she also adds a glass of white wine. Makes a big difference IMHO.
Don't know if it really makes any difference but if you are making it from scratch, according to Jamie Oliver, after you've skinned the tomatoes, simmer them whole and don't break them up until you've finished the cooking process or the seeds make the sauce bitter.
I had one of the best tomato sauces cooked by a friend in Milan. I asked her how she made it.
This is what she used:
Fresh or tinned tomatoes - chopped. A small onion finely chopped. A tbsp of Parmesan. A teaspoon of sugar. Salt. Pepper.
She may have added some herbs. I add a bay leaf and some oregano.
I love fresh pasta sauce, but I'm too lazy to bother with peeling tomatoes or cooking for a long time. I like chunky sauce, so I don't bother with blending or anything. Okay, I'm just lazy.
My quick, go-to recipe is something like this and it cooks in the time it takes to boil the water and cook the pasta:
Chop fresh tomatoes and onions (I prefer red onion). Chuck in a frying pan with some olive oil on medium heat and let get happy and soft. Squash a clove of garlic through the press into the pan. Add a squeeze of tomato paste, herbs, salt, and pepper to taste. Add a splash of whatever wine we have open (red or white). Reduce heat to low and simmer while the pasta finishes cooking. Stir regularly to make sure things don't stick.
A lot depends on the tomatoes you buy. If you get ones that have the texture of flour and have no taste, your sauce doesn't have much chance. Some folks prefer canned tomatoes for that reason.
You need to add a pinch of sugar to the tomatoes and mix, to remove the acidic taste that canned tomatoes (or not ripe enough tomatoes) sometimes have. You can then add salt (and other spices if you need to - e.g. basil, red pepper flakes, etc.) later as needed, so that your sauce is not overly sweet.
Are you cooking the sauce for enough time and at the right temperature? After the initial sautéing of garlic in olive oil (my dad adds onion too, I don't), I turn the temperature down and like to simmer my tomato sauce over an hour at very low heat.
Note: this only for simple tomato sauce, I usually let ragu' and other meat-based sauces simmer for 2-3 hours.
Note 2: the simmering time is also indicative - are you using diced canned tomatoes, whole/halved canned tomatoes, tomato puree (passata di pomodoro), or fresh tomatoes? The fresher and "less liquid", the more I simmer usually.
Grandma's tip: when the sauce is almost ready, add in a teaspoon or two of butter and mix in the sauce.
Good luck!
A splash of basalmic vinegar makes quite a difference too. Both to a simple tomato sauce and a bolognese ragu.
That - and the fact that foods involving tomato sauce often are those which don't involve too much hassle, so why add to it by fussing over tomato sauce - is my reason for using tinned ones. Unfortunately many many tomato batches in Swiss stores tend to be of the floury and utterly tasteless variety.
I often use some coriander and thyme for a simple tomato sauce.
I am Italian and probably every family in Italy has its own "salsa di pomodoro" (tomato sauce) recipe, so here is mine.
I like to keep it simple, the ingredients make all the difference - as someone already said here - so I buy good quality tomatoes: either peeled in cans (pelati) or those already puréed in the bottle (passata). Basically it depends on how "thick" you like the sauce or if you like small chops of tomatoes or cannot stand them.
I like mine to look a bit "chunky" (rustica), therefore I prefer the peeled tomatoes in a can (pelati).
2 cans of pelati (peeled tomatoes)
1 small onion or 1 shallot
2 table spoons good olive oil
Salt
1 Teaspoon sugar
Fresh basil leaves - a couple (optional)
I use a non-sticky pot.
Start with the "soffritto" which is also the basis for lots of other Italian dishes, risotto among them.
Warm up the oil in the pot, add the finely chopped onion/shallot and stir at full heat till the onion gets "blonde". Watch it: if it turns more like "brunette" throw away and start again
Add the pelati and stir so that the tomatoes absorbe the soffritto flavour, then add salt, a teaspoon of sugar to get rid of the acid taste of tomatoes and lower the heat till the point when the sauce makes small bubbles. Cover with a lid, leaving partially open to let steam come out. I put a wooden spoon on the pot under the lid.
Let cook for about 45 min, stirring every now and then.
I then put a couple of basil leaves from my own plants and let them sink in the sauce.
Done.
you can prepare a bit more and freeze some, although it can very well last one week in the fridge.
Buon appetito.
I've also tried to recreate the restaurant flavor that you describe. The biggest secret is that the industrially-produced stuff (which tastes good!) is that they use considerably more salt and sugar than the average home cook.
Thank you everyone. I always put sugar in my tomatoes and adore balsamic vinegar but I'm a bugger for making my onions "brunette" ( love that, Gmaus, thank you). Next time I make a sauce I will consider your responses and see how I fare!
You need to add an anchovie or two.
Don't you get a bit of a puttanesca vibe from that though? Hmm. It's worth playing around with I guess!
I add anchovies to mine when doing the onions and capers at the end.
The kids prefer the simple one though.
OP, if you follow the above pasted "tips", you might as well dump some Aromat inside it.
Dude. No. Anchovies are nonna's secret and it gives a depth to the sauce. Try it (or get out a bit more) before you speak nonsense.
Thyme, coriander and aromat are just wrong.
Add chicken stock to give the sauce fullness.
Add dried oregano at the beginning, parsely and basel at the very end.
Use red wine. And thinly sliced carrots.
Put a stick blender in at the end and pulse to give it the desired consistency.
Lots of garlic. A whole clove will do.
Let simmer on low heat for 20 minutes.
Make huge batch and freeze in small containers.