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

[IHopeYouStepOnALegPiece]

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

cook it slowly.

Start with sliced or diced garlic in a little warm oil to extract the flavour. Then add good quality tinned chopped tomatoes, and a table spoon of tomato paste.

Bring slowly to a boil and simmer very gently with just a bubble or two breaking the surface until it has thickened. 45 minutes minimum.

Then add fresh oregano if you like.

I did an Italian cookery course, and the amount of olive oil they pour in nearly gave me a heart attack...but it tasted amazing! I also add a bit of sugar.

I throw a red pepper in the oven and roast it
with some plum tomatoes and add it when I’ve finished making the base

I have been using this recently and it's great. Very simple and delicious.

I like the caramelise the onion half a little in the butter first (good old Maillard reaction for some flavour) and I often add a glug of the basil oil I made last year because that kick of fresh basil flavour is such a summery memory.

I stopped buying chopped tomatoes as I find whole ones much better quality in a simmered sauce.

Placemarking

So it tastes fucking amazing!

Mutti tomatoes (definitely worth the money!), minced garlic and shallot cooked slooooowly in some oil, salt and olive oul

I may never financially recover from the amount of olive oil used though 😂

Melting in 3 or 4 jarred anchovies

@IHopeYouStepOnALegPiece I always use mutti in recipes- expensive but so good

I’m sure someone will have already said this but I always roast some cherry tomatoes with garlic, salt, olive oil and add a pinch of sugar at the end. I then add them to the sauce made in the traditional way and find it really lifts it. Always use Mutti tinned tomatoes.

Is this an ad for mutti?

Until this thread I had never, ever heard of Mutti tomatoes. Feeling really pasta ignorant today.

Look at the tomato content of Mutti compared to other brands. You can taste it.

Honestly, this is such a game changer. Incredibly easy, and absolutely velvety and delicious and fresh tasting if you want something really simple.

To have with something like burrata then any of these recipes would be fine.

If you're having the sauce with something not so delicate then a more robust tomato sauce might be better. And if you're doing that then it really helps to cook it in the oven for 4 or 5 hours on a low temperature in a cast iron casserole dish with the lid slightly ajar.

There's one recipe that I've used for years (and also experimented with) here that makes fantastic tomato sauce:-

https://www.seriouseats.com/the-best-slow-cooked-italian-american-tomato-sauce-red-sauce-recipe

Slow cooker. I add balsamic vinegar, red pesto and a little sugar as well as usual garlic etc.

Ain't nobody got time for that. Sainsburys tomato & herb for the win.

I just checked the nutritional content of half a dozen brands against mutti and it barely varies.

It's the ingredients.

It tastes fresher.

This one, I kept it after seeing it on here and soon as I tried it I've never cooked it any other way.
Obviously it's just a standard tomato sauce so you can still add in different flavours ie garlic, cheese etc

I use our homegrown tomatoes, make the sauce fresh when we harvest and then freeze it for use later in the year. Same with spag bol.

You can really taste the difference!

100% this.

We’ve bought the Mutti tomato and basil sauce before and it’s ok but I don’t love it, not sure what it is but I’m not a huge fan but the tinned tomatoes are 10/10!

I follow a hairy bikers recipe that has cinnamon and honey in it.

Little bit of red chilli, lots of olive oil and san marzano tomatoes. Lemon zest, lemon juice and finely
chopped parsley stirred in at the end.