Really nice pasta sauce

[fatpatsthong]

Family resolution was to cook more and rely on packaged food less. I want to make a really rich, deep vibrant tomato based sauce for pasta, pizzas etc that I can freeze.

I am a fairly ok cook but for some reason mine always taste thin and tinny. Everyone else in the family except me wants very smooth/no visible veg sauce so whilst I will happily put them in, I will need to blend.

Hints and tips please. Seems such a basic thing. They all love a jarred sauce and I refuse to bow down!

Would a good passata base help the dc get the taste they like? Mine like the Waitrose essentials and it’s about 60p in a big jar but could add fresh tomatoes etc to get three servings from one jar.

I think you need a little sugar in the tomatoes. Also fresh herbs

You need to cook it for a long time and use really good quality ingredients, especially the tinned tomatoes. Don’t be tempted to buy cheap supermarket ones - the sauce will taste cheap.

How long as you cooking it for? Really it needs to be a long time. I batch cook sauce and I will leave it on a low heat for most of the day and just top up with water. You will recognise a point where it just ‘changes’.
I use a mixture of passata and tinned plum tomatoes.

add a tube of tomato puree
thickens instantly and adds more depth.
a spoonfull of balsamic vinegar added to the onions before adding the other ingredients adds a nice sweetness.

You should cook for at least 45 mins. I usually cook for an hour (longer if making a bolognese or such with meat).

Add some sundried tomato paste.

I like to add cooked red lentils to the tomatoes or passata. I put a stock cube in the water while they're cooking. I also add corn flour to a small amount of cold water and then stir that in to thicken the sauce. The best flavour in pasta sauces comes from celery. You could chop finely and fry with onions, add to tomatoes, add red lentils then when all simmered together, blend it all with a stick blender. My 3 dcs and DH all happily eat this.

Rachel Roddy is your friend here - she has a few tomato sauce recipes. One of which is a hand me down from Marcella Hazan which is basically tinned tomatoes, an onion (halved) butter and then cooked for about 45 mins (onion discarded after cooking)... very good sauce!

I use passata and add peppers, a carrot, onions, a veggie stock cube, tomato purée and a truckload of garlic and basil plus a little bit of dried oregano and rosemary. I blitz it so that it’s smooth then simmer it on a v low heat for about an hour, stirring regularly. It’s lovely. Sometimes I add a splash of balsamic vinegar and or red wine. You can use it as a base for so many things. It’s really nice poured over white fish then baked in the oven and serve with salad or rice.

Cook it longer. I start with diced onions, celery and carrots. Add stock, tinned tomatoes or passata for a smother sauce, garlic, bit of sugar (or tomato ketchup) and simmer until stock reduced by half. Season. Can easily be varied.

Cook the onions until they start to go brown (not burned, just sticky). Garlic optional, grated and put in for a short time.

Add a fuckton of tomato puree. Tinned tomatoes or passata. Let bubble away until it looks like lava.

Soften a splodge of tamarind paste in hot water and stir through, plus a good pinch of sea salt. That'll give it depth, richness and enhance the sweet/tangy nature of the sauce. If it still tastes weedy, a bit of gravy granules can help, or just boil for a couple more minutes.

I tend to add black olives, capers, red chilli flakes/fresh or other herbs/spices when reheating - I wouldn't bother adding things like basil beforehand, just in case you fancy something less 'Italian'.

The key is patience - you can't knock up something that tastes rich in five minutes.

Use two or three types of tomato, fresh, tinned and semi dried in oil. If you can find San Marzano tinned or fresh they have a good flavour.

Add some tomato paste/concentrate, Cirio is reliable.
Start with a combination of finely chopped onion, celery and carrot, slowly softened.
Use fresh garlic, not flakes.
Add some oregano.
Add some wine.
Cook long and slow.

Tomato powder!

Agree with PP. it's all about low and slow.

Onion, carrot and celery sweated slowly in olive oil until soft. This takes a lot longer than you ever think it's going to. Maybe 15/20 mins.
4/5 tablespoons of tomato purée. Cool off for 1 non.
Then add a good glug of red wine and let it cook off until there's no alcoholic smell (about 45 secs).
Add good quality tinned plum tomatoes.
2 Bay leaves. Couple of sprigs of thyme. Sprinkle of oregano.
Cook for ages on a low simmer. At least an hour.
Towards the end I taste and add sugar to sweeten & balance the bitterness.
Then when it's cooked down to a good consistency (it should coat the back of a spoon) add a really healthy dose of salt and pepper and a lug of butter. Put the lid on and let it sit for 5 mins. Then stir and taste again.

If you ever get to the end of a Parmesan wedge then pop it in a freezer bag. When you come to make this, Chuck in the frozen parm wedge to add extra oomph.

Ah yeah how did I forget garlic! Add that once the sofritto has cooked.

I use the slow cooker - I'm in a hot country & we get brilliant, flavourful tomatoes but they go off quickly, so I make this every week! Quantities are guesswork...

1k tomatoes, quartered,
2 medium onions, chopped quite finely
2 carrots, peeled & chopped
Up to 2 each aubergine & courgette, if you have them & they need using. Just make sure the total volume of these is less than half that of the tomatoes or it won't really be tomato sauce anymore.
2-3 peppers, ideally red/orange/yellow for sweetness & colour
1 chilli (optional. Or add more if you like heat or to make an enchilada sauce)
6 cloves garlic
1 tube/jar tomato puree
1 cup chicken/vegetable stock OR if you have a nearly empty ketchup bottle, just rinse out with hot water!
A stock cube, crumbled, to add flavour if the tomatoes aren't all that
Good shake each of oregano, basil, & black pepper. A few bay leaves (for enchilada version also add ground cumin).

Chop all the veg up & just chuck everything in the SC. Cook on low for 6 hours/all day/overnight (if you have a crap SC lid add a bit more liquid if leaving it on for hours)

Set about it with a stick blender or blitz in food processor in batches.

Freezes well. Basically treat it as a jar of Dolmio!

Brill, thank you

I suspect I don't soften the veg long enough and also don't use good enough quality tomatoes.

I am going to work my way through these - in terms of ingredients/method I do similar already but I think it's the little things I'm missing

Second the olives and capers and garlic.

If you’re not making it vegetarian then I add a small slice of black pudding - it ends up melting into the sauce almost and you can’t taste it when it’s blended but it adds “something”

I add a small slice of black pudding - it ends up melting into the sauce almost and you can’t taste it when it’s blended but it adds “something”

Blood and fat, isn’t it?

Plum tomatoes have more flavour if using tinned.

The length is really key. I only used chopped tinned tomatoes on the last one, but cooked in the slow cooker for 9 hours. It was very good - I'll come back and post the recipe if I can find it.

Fried bacon and onion. Philadelphia and a bit of milk

You need to use lots of butter.

Chuck in a few blitzed anchovies.