Tomato pasta sauce what have I done wrong

[soboredtonight]

I've just tried to make a pasta sauce.

I roasted a few types of baby tomatoes all good quality.
Added wine, oxo, salt pepper, garlic, herbs big glass of red wine to a pan and hand blended it.

It's tastes shit. I simmered it for an hour.

What am I doing wrong.

@soboredtonight
tastesbetterfromscratch.com/homemade-spaghetti-sauce/?fbclid=IwAR3J7kb5CyvYDUX7AtcdB0n_gpyg0GXrBCOILMNI2KXFVhHWRocmcdFuapA
this one has meat but is simple, very good and not tricky, I’ll find a simple tomato one as well

@soboredtonight you've got a lot of bitter ingredients in there. Wine, garlic (if roasted or fried till coloured is very bitter), herbs (which?) the roasting will have added bitterness to the tomatoes. They're all bitter if the quantities aren't right.
It's not the Oxo- that will just have added a meaty tang.

As @ErrolTheDragon said upthread- look at any good tomato sauce recipe and it will have tomato, salt and olive oil. That's all your base needs.

www.foodandwine.com/recipes/best-ever-marinara
@soboredtonight i’d start with half the oil amount.

What kind of spoon did you use in the pan OP? There is a theory that metal spoon may react badly with tomato, tomato being acidic. I use a wooden one and my sauces usually turn out okay.

I used a recipe from tiktok and I can't figure out how to link it.

But I used 3 whole bulbs of garlic and just chopped off the head off.

Put these into an oven dish and I used 500ml olive oil and a sprig of rosemary.

Bake in a low oven (160 degrees) for about an hour.

Your whole house will smell amazing.

Just keep an eye on it as you don't want the garlic going hard / crispy, they need to be soft.

After an hour I let it cool and then take the bulbs and just squeeze the soft garlic out, back into the oil

The whole lot goes into a glass jar into the fridge. I used the oil for everything as it's now flavoured , and the cloves of garlic I use quite a lot, even added to the end of roasting potatoes ...

But of course before decanting into the jar, you absolutely have to take a few of those soft cloves and spread onto some toast or French loaf

I see other recipes peel all the garlic first, but tbh that would take me forever to do, and i think the no peel and squishing the cooked garlic out worked pretty well.

Sorry to derail your thread a bit OP.

Op, place your tomato’s in a bowl
Add olive oil and grated garlic and massage it all together.
Roast the tomato mix in the oven.
When done add everything to a pot with some tomato paste and some dried oregano.
Simmer until nicely thickened.
Remove from heat and when cooled add to a blender in batches with some fresh basil.
Enjoy

The addition of sugar is dependent on a persons preference. We’re not inclined to use it. Oh, sometimes we also add fresh chilli.

I'm going to get a tub of this Tomorrow and add see if it makes a difference.

My tomato sauce is rich and thick but basic. Fry off onions, add garlic, add a couple of tins of tomatoes, or fresh if available, couple of tbsp tomato purée, salt and pepper, cook 20-30 minutes. I just use basic plum tomatoes, not chopped. I might add oregano or not. I might occasionally add chilli or not. I might add red peppers or not. I might add a tiny pinch of sugar if necessary.

My DH had just said he's not throwing good money after bad and wasting money on mascarpone cheese. He said it wasn't worth the lecky I wasted cooking it. Cheeky bastard.

I could have drank that red wine

February tomatoes won't make a good sauce?

Definitely not oxo. Don’t introduce beef extract into a tomato sauce…

You went wrong with the Oxo cube!

Add half a teaspoon of sugar and see if it tastes better, then a little more. Add a little salt, again a bit at a time.

Bring it up to simmering point then put in a low oven with a lid for a couple of hours.

I’m Team DH here, sorry. Adding more stuff isn’t going to save it – it’ll be the culinary equivalent of Ross adding lotion to the talc to get his leather trousers on.

At this time of year, fresh tomatoes do tend to be even more tasteless than usual. I'd use tinned plum tomatoes and skip the oxo cube

In an ideal world, I'd be part of an Italian family using up ripe, squishy tomatoes in autumn.

A girl can dream.

Tiny bit of instant coffee does wonders alongside a pinch of sugar. Cuts through the acidity and rounds it off a bit.

After you add the mascarpone, coffee, and sugar, add some Savoiardi biscuits and a splash of marsala.

Add some white sugar, to balance the acid, from wine and tomato then taste.

It will transform the flavour. Just add sugar in smaller amounts, stir then taste.

That should do it.

Next time drink the red wine and add a shot of vodka instead. Sounds mad but it's DS's secret tip and he makes amazing sauce.

It's gone. It's in the bin. Dh looks happy it's not in the freezer so I can whip it out on the sly.

He's cooking a roast tomorrow.

He's getting me curry sauce and salt and pepper chips later on.

Keeps making jokes like "what are you burning for tea" and "I bet Jamie Oliver is shitting himself"

Trust me it's not nearly as glam as it sounds. Though you know you've finally made it with MIL (after 26 years with her son) when she offers you a bottle of salsa to take home. 🤣

Weird I never use sugar

This is how I make mine, as did my Italian mama. ♥️

soften onions with olive oil and salt

Tomatoes, salt, splash of water… cover and heat low to reduce then mash or blend

at the end add black pepper and herbs

Use delia's vialli sauce recipe.