Tomato sauce recipe
So a couple of weeks ago, I attempted my usual tomato sauce. The recipe itself, I assure you, is 4 spoons, but this attempt I give only 3 spoons due to the following: tried new equipment, which was unsatisfactory; lack of necessary ingredients. The recipe is infinitely variable but quite easy.
Ingredients:
ground beef (optional)
italian sausage (optional)
onion
green bell pepper
garlic
shallot (optional)
tomato puree
crushed, chopped, or otherwise non-pureed tomatoes
brown sugar
balsamic vinegar
beef base (optional)
olive oil
bay leaves
italian seasoning (I use Mrs. Dash)
red pepper flakes (optional)
salt
pepper
First, cook the beef. This is about 3 pounds of meat, 80% lean.
Next, chop an onion. Here are instructions for folks who may not know the easiest way to dice an onion.
First cut off the top end.
Then, setting the onion cut-side down, cut it in half.
Set one half on its cut side, then, with the knife horizontal, make a series of cuts almost all the way to the root end without going through it.
Next, make a series of vertical cuts perpendicular to the cut-off end, again almost to the root but not through it.
Then cut vertically perpendicular to those cuts.
Here is the size of the onions I cut. You can adjust the cube size by making fewer cuts in all 3 directions.
Meanwhile, the meat has been cooking. Since I used high-fat, I'm going to drain and rinse it. You can calculate based on your own grocery - for me it was cheaper this time per pound to lose 20% of the weight to fat.
I cooked the beef and the sausage separately. You can do as you please.
If you decide to use the bell pepper, cut it in a medium dice, and saute it until it's soft. Add it back when you add the meat. I didn't have one in the house this time, so this attempt did not use it.
Next, I cooked the onions. A little olive oil in the bottom of the pot:
Then add the onions, and sprinkle them with a bit of salt. The salt will draw the water from the onions and let them soften without browning. Cook them until they are translucent.
Whilst the onions are cooking, I mince some garlic and shallot.
Add those after the onions are ready - they cook much faster. Cook again until the garlic is fragrant.
Add back the meat, and stir it all up. Then add the tomato puree and tomatoes.
Add: vinegar (a couple of tablespoons), brown sugar (maybe 1/2 cup depending on how sweet you like your sauce - remember, you can always add more later), a few bay leaves, a good sprinkle of Italian seasoning, as much red pepper as you want, and a little black pepper.
Bring it to a simmer, and let it stew for 10 minutes or so. Then give it a taste and add more of whatever you want. For me, that's usually sugar, vinegar, and something salty. Sometimes I use beef base to give it a richer flavor, or if it's sufficiently meaty, just plain salt or Goya Adobo (Wonderful stuff; if you don't use it, you should. It's delicious on everything from scrambled eggs to steamed broccoli).
Simmer the sauce until it's rich and thick and delicious. If it gets too thick, you can use some water to thin it - if it's too too thick with meat, the meat will fall to the bottom and burn.
Serve it on pasta with cheese or use it in lasagna or other pleasing sauce-based dish!
So, lessons learned from this time: I tried using a stockpot where I had usually used a dutch oven. I recommend using the dutch oven; things wanted to burn in the stockpot. Also, brown sugar is essential - I had run out and used white sugar, and the flavor was not as good.
There are lots of other ways to make this recipe, more or less complicated than this. You can do it with nothing more than tomatoes, onions, garlic, sugar, herbs, and salt. You can add cheese or different kinds of peppers or fennel or any number of things. Happy cooking!
Ingredients:
ground beef (optional)
italian sausage (optional)
onion
green bell pepper
garlic
shallot (optional)
tomato puree
crushed, chopped, or otherwise non-pureed tomatoes
brown sugar
balsamic vinegar
beef base (optional)
olive oil
bay leaves
italian seasoning (I use Mrs. Dash)
red pepper flakes (optional)
salt
pepper
First, cook the beef. This is about 3 pounds of meat, 80% lean.
Next, chop an onion. Here are instructions for folks who may not know the easiest way to dice an onion.
First cut off the top end.
Then, setting the onion cut-side down, cut it in half.
Set one half on its cut side, then, with the knife horizontal, make a series of cuts almost all the way to the root end without going through it.
Next, make a series of vertical cuts perpendicular to the cut-off end, again almost to the root but not through it.
Then cut vertically perpendicular to those cuts.
Here is the size of the onions I cut. You can adjust the cube size by making fewer cuts in all 3 directions.
Meanwhile, the meat has been cooking. Since I used high-fat, I'm going to drain and rinse it. You can calculate based on your own grocery - for me it was cheaper this time per pound to lose 20% of the weight to fat.
I cooked the beef and the sausage separately. You can do as you please.
If you decide to use the bell pepper, cut it in a medium dice, and saute it until it's soft. Add it back when you add the meat. I didn't have one in the house this time, so this attempt did not use it.
Next, I cooked the onions. A little olive oil in the bottom of the pot:
Then add the onions, and sprinkle them with a bit of salt. The salt will draw the water from the onions and let them soften without browning. Cook them until they are translucent.
Whilst the onions are cooking, I mince some garlic and shallot.
Add those after the onions are ready - they cook much faster. Cook again until the garlic is fragrant.
Add back the meat, and stir it all up. Then add the tomato puree and tomatoes.
Add: vinegar (a couple of tablespoons), brown sugar (maybe 1/2 cup depending on how sweet you like your sauce - remember, you can always add more later), a few bay leaves, a good sprinkle of Italian seasoning, as much red pepper as you want, and a little black pepper.
Bring it to a simmer, and let it stew for 10 minutes or so. Then give it a taste and add more of whatever you want. For me, that's usually sugar, vinegar, and something salty. Sometimes I use beef base to give it a richer flavor, or if it's sufficiently meaty, just plain salt or Goya Adobo (Wonderful stuff; if you don't use it, you should. It's delicious on everything from scrambled eggs to steamed broccoli).
Simmer the sauce until it's rich and thick and delicious. If it gets too thick, you can use some water to thin it - if it's too too thick with meat, the meat will fall to the bottom and burn.
Serve it on pasta with cheese or use it in lasagna or other pleasing sauce-based dish!
So, lessons learned from this time: I tried using a stockpot where I had usually used a dutch oven. I recommend using the dutch oven; things wanted to burn in the stockpot. Also, brown sugar is essential - I had run out and used white sugar, and the flavor was not as good.
There are lots of other ways to make this recipe, more or less complicated than this. You can do it with nothing more than tomatoes, onions, garlic, sugar, herbs, and salt. You can add cheese or different kinds of peppers or fennel or any number of things. Happy cooking!