What’s your trick to a delicious simple tomato pasta sauce

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I want to make a fucking delicious creamy tomato pasta with a beautiful burrata I have to use up. My tomato pasta sauces are either v flat tasting or I’ve used so much garlic and herbs to liven it up that it tastes like a mouthful of oregano and a vampires worst nightmare.

so I would love some recipes or tips for a rich and flavourful pasta sauce

My tip would be to add a tablespoon of red currant jelly and make the sauce the day before you need it. This allows the flavours to develop.

I buy fresh tomatoes when they’re reduced in price, roast them in the air fryer with onion, garlic and fresh thyme, good olive oil and sometimes a chopped red pepper.
when everything is nicely charred, blitz with a stick blender.
You can dilute it with a splash or red wine or veg stock and it freezes really well too.

Use a slow cooker, leave it on low all day, and the very best tomatoes you can. Nothing will ever taste much better than the quality of the base ingredients you start with. Cirio canned tomatoes are good.

Going to try this. Does adding basil stalks & leaves give a stronger basil flavour? I love a good tomato & basil sauce.

Oh amazing thank you!

Will definitely use tinned - I live in Denmark and the fresh tomatoes here absolutely suck! Mutti sound like the way to go!

so what I’m reading is I need good tomatoes, buckets of olive oil and salt then a bit more, then another dash of oil then maybe some garlic 😁

This one apparently....https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/tomato-sauce-onion-and-butter

But I'd say time and expensive tinned tomatoes.

But I'd eat the burrata on its own with good tomatoes and serrano.

This with the mutti tomatoes, there is a reason they are so popular in Italy. Lidl have started doing their own polpa and they are rather good and cheaper.

I finely chop carrots onions and celery and fry them in lots of olive oil until softened. Add in garlic and mince and brown. Then tomatoes purée, tinned toms and chopped anchovies ( occasionally I use bacon or pancetta) , oregano and basil and let it simmer. Before serving I taste it and then add salt, sugar and balsamic or red wine vinegar to balance it.

I use the same base for chili but swap the herbs for cumin, chili and smoked paprika. Add tinned beans and diced peppers. Always goes down a storm.

Salt sugar and acid to finish a sauce based meal is how you elevate it. They are vehicles for flavour.

Mine is really simple - a big glug of olive oil, a couple of big fat garlic cloves squashed and chopped up, and two tins of the best chopped tomatoes you can buy. Salt and pepper and sometimes sugar to taste. As others have said, needs cooking slowly and for a long time.

Always add parsley. I like a thick sauce so use good quality tomato paste too.

A glug of extra virgin olive oil at the end.

Another recommendation for the Marcella Hazan sauce. The only one I make. Maybe with some fresh basil to top it off.

Yeap, it allows the flavour to cook in longer, so it's a deeper basily taste whereas leaves have to stay quite fresh so it's more of an aroma on top

An Italian once told me that celery is essential in a tomato sauce, as well as onions.

My go to sauce is fresh spinach leaves in the airfryer, topped with cherry tomatoes and Philadelphia - either plain or garlic and herb. AF 180 for 8/10 mins stirring a couple of times.

I think I'd definitely use a sofrito for a bolognese sauce where you need a bit more heft. But keep things simple for a tomato sauce for pasta (toms, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper, basil leaves etc). Gwyneth P cookery book taught me all I know...

https://www.recipetineats.com/slow-cooker-marinara-sauce/

This is fabulous and very versatile. Buy good tinned tomatoes though.

This thread is fabulous, so many good tips! Actually making notes here 😅

Will need to try out the basil stalks and the Parmesan rind tricks.

Tomatoes, a whole onion roughly chopped, tsp sugar and a tbsp spoon of butter. Simmer for an hour. Blitz until smooth if that's how you like it.

TBH I’d prefer the word from an Italian to anything from GP! The person who told me (a relation by marriage of MiL) used her with-celery tomato sauce on plain pasta - she said she invariably kept some ready in the fridge for a quick, simple meal - same as she’d just served to Mil, me and then little dds - it was delicious.

A teaspoon of sugar

I use sofritto to start with - dating from the days of hiding veg for my children! We all love it here &:reduced down use it as the tomato base for home made pizzas.

I always add a tsp of sugar when cooking tomatoes.

A half teaspoon of sugar.

Balsamic vinegar.

Splash of Red wine

Whole bunch of basil that you take out before serving. Season after adding tomatoes then to taste just before serving.

Decent tomatoes

Salt and fat