Any good recipes for a good Italian tomato sauce/sugo?

[ParalysisByAnalysis]

Kids want spaghetti and meatballs for tea tonight and I’ve been saying for ages I would like to learn how to make a really good Italian pasta sauce.

Any recipe links/recommendations??

I am Italian and a traditional basic tomato sauce is:

• extra virgin olive oil in a pan
• you add soffritto (celery, onion, carrot very finely diced)
• you fry it for few minutes until soft
• you add passata (I prefer Mutti chopped tomatoes, great texture and flavour)
• you add a bit of salt and/or sugar to taste (sugar MIGHT be needed to counterbalance tomato acidity, but you have taste first)

We often use only onion vs full soffritto mix as it's not always available in the house or requires a bit more prep time.

I love this one, make huge batches of it and freeze it, ridiculously tasty (prob because of the butter!) smittenkitchen.com/2010/01/tomato-sauce-with-butter-and-onions/

@user1471523870

any garlic?

Half Italian DS objects to bits of onion in his tomato sauce but my quick and easy versio
gets the thumbs up from Italian DH. Good quality passata, a squirt of tomato puree, a glug of olive oil, sprinkle of dried garlic powder, bit of salt and a sprinkle of sugar. Whack it in the microwave for 5 minutes and the job's a good'un.

[quote INeedNewShoes]@user1471523870

any garlic?[/quote]
No garlic.
I find an overuse of garlic in supposedly Italian recipes abroad.

Also Italian heritage and live in Italy. British recipes make this much more complicated and add loads of garlic. If you want super quick and bit free just add a really good glug (1tablespoon per large adult portion roughly) with large jar of passata or 2 small tetra packs, teaspoon or so of sugar, salt (might need more at end) and squirt of lemon juice (any). Heat up and store or freeze. Don’t be afraid of the sugar/salt/oil portions all balance equally and make it taste authentic. No garlic!

The trick is to simmer tinned toms, halved onion, huge amounts of butter and pinch of sugar on the hob for up to an hour and the whole thing becomes lush.

Delia's recipe

I'm also in Italy and agree with pp.

Italians use way less garlic in cooking than Brits do, and you won't find onion and garlic together.

I also like Mutti chopped tomatoes or polpa (not passata) Fresh tomatoes for a sauce only at the dog end of summer when they're overripe and cheap.

I'd also say both more oil to start with and more salt than any British recipe (apart from maybe Jamie with his glugging) would ask for.

The soffritto should be very finely chopped, you're not supposed to notice chunks of it in your sauce. And when you pour your tomatoes in put the heat on full blast momentarily as that releases the sweetness. Use a wooden spoon not a metal one. (Jamie said that)

Delia is not good with Italian - the only recipes of hers I've found that don't work are "Italian" dishes. I think it's because she's a bit prissy with her salt and oil etc.
If you want any herbs, then basil. Oregano is for pizza. (that's my MIL, not Jamie)

It's all in the quality of the tomatoes I think. Buy the best tins you can afford and don't mess about with it too much. No garlic or dried herbs or whatever. Just onions or soffritto. I recently made tiny meatballs in sauce and they were awesome. I used a recipe from the Pasta Grannies on YouTube. Love that channel.