Any tips for making a really thick tomato sauce to go with meatballs?

[lucysmam]

Just that really, I fancy meatballs for tea with a really thick sauce but not sure how to make it thick

tia

Italian style:
Fry finely chopped onions. Throw in finely chopped garlic and good handful of Herbes de Provence. Add finely grated zest of an unwaxed lemon. Heaps of freshly ground black paper and a tiny amount of salt (lemon zest reduces need for salt). Add 2 tins of plum tomatoes and quarter of a large jar of tomato puree. Bring to boil, turn down and simmer until reduced. Ideally cook the meatballs in the sauce as it reduces, in the oven with lid on on a low heat. Serve with large shell pasta, basil leaves and shavings of parmesan.

Buy decent tinned tomatoes if you can afford it, not value ones. The juice will be thicker to start with.

I add cornflour to thicken sauces.

snort a t mumsnet and their toe nail like addiction to dried mixed herbs

VOM

The longer

Stupid phone.

Cook the sauce for longer to make it thick - up to an hour. Jamie Oliver's recipe makes a lovely thick, tasty tomato sauce.

I just fry onions, add tomatoes or passata once well cooked, and a handful of parsley [or a good shake of dried if you have no clumps of parsley in the garden like I have]...and cook it down until thick. Add a stock cube and a teaspoon of sugar if it needs it. Salt and pepper. Put cooked balls into sauce. Then add cooked spaghetti and plate up. Some cheese on top. Lovely.

Don't put cornflour in it! It will go slimy and taste weird. If you can't use time to get it thick, at least use potato starch rather than corn starch to thicken, it tastes better.

no corn flour to tom sauce

Onions, garlic, dried chilli if you like, basil if you've got it, and a carton of passata. Cook it down while stirring constantly, the heat means that excess water evaporates leaving a lovely sticky tomatoey sauce.

Ps you need to stir it or it will spatter all over your stove top.

Two tins of best quality tomatoes, one peeled carrot, one stick of celery, half a peeled onion, one or two peeled cloves of garlic. Bring to boil then simmer for an hour. Blitz in blender. Add good olive oil and season.

No cornflour.

Use good quality tinned tomatoes plus garlic, chopped celery, shallots and herbs and reduce it down slowly.

Yes to celery and carrot. I v finely chop it, fry with onion and garlic, add two tins of plum tomatoes and simmer for ages. Add lots of fresh basil.

There is no need to fry the onion and garlic in oil before adding the other vegetables - in fact, it makes the sauce taste less naturally sweet if you do. The sauce will taste best if you add uncooked olive oil after cooking the vegetables.

Fry a finely chopped onion gently in olive oil and salt, fry till translucent and soft -about 10 mins the onion should not brown, add finely chopped garlic for a few second then add 2 cans of chopped tomatoes, cook gently for 30 mins, season with a pinch of sugar or a tiny squirt of ketchup or Beluzu balsamic vinegar to remove bitterness, this should be done to taste - you will require more or less depending on the sweetness of your tomatoes. A splash of fruity extra virgin olive oil at the end will give a rounder more full bodied flavour.

Dear DrNick. Fresh herbs are quite delightful if you have the means to afford them. Judgemental? I hope not.

Add a pinch of sugar.

Drink, very glad you have your own cottage herb garden, sounds delightful

Liquidise the tinned tomatoes and add tomato purée to thicken, add to sautéed chopped onions and peppers and mushrooms (or other veg you like). Add garlic and herbs, dash of balsamic, black pepper and Tabasco if you like t.

If you cook the meatballs in the sauce it helps to thicken it.

Fresh herbs aren't that dear - and what you don't use, you can chop and freeze for soups, surely?

simmer in passata add your usual veg and herbs. slow simmering will thicken.

Use passata - and a good quality one, not a carton of own brand - simmer on a low heat for hours and hours. I normally make 3 500ml jars worth of sauce in a massive pot at a time. Then freeze in portions.

My fav version adds a whole block of butter (yes, really) and a skinned whole onion and simmers for ages. Delish.

80p for fresh herbs- or less from garden
hardly breaking the bank

The meatballs - what's best, beef or pork mince or mixture of the 2?

And what do you add/do to the meatballs.

Sorry to hijack!