How do you make a smooth pasta sauce?

[BertieBotts]

Made a lovely sauce with all the veg chopped up small, fried up, add tinned tomatoes and blend together, it tastes great, but it all separates - bitty veg mush and tomato-flavoured water at the bottom.

How do I stick it all together?

I have the same problem! Sometimes add a tiny bit of cornflour and a teaspoon or two of Philadelphia which seems to bind it a bit better. That would only work though if you don't mind a slight creamy tinge to your pasta though!

I can't eat cheese (allergic) so can't add that. Other dairy is fine but yes I think it would make it creamy wouldn't it? Would olive oil help?

I find adding a potato helps it bind together and make it creamy without adding dairy.

I can't see why not -give it a try!

How long has it been cooked for?

I didn't cook it for that long, maybe that's the secret?

The problem is even if the liquidy but evaporated it would still be bitty/grainy rather than smooth. I need to mix them together and make them stick together somehow.

I don't really want it creamy, I like a creamy tomato sauce but just for a normal tomato based sauce, for meatballs or something, I'd prefer to be straight up.

Stick it in a blender.

yy, that sort of sauce really does need cooking for a decent length of time, IME. It reduces the moisture content, of course, but I think it's the breaking down of the structure of the vegetables that really does the trick.

I use passata instead of tinned tomatoes which doesn't then do the watery separate thing. I add finely chopped fresh tomatoes for dh for a bit of texture.

I make pasta sauce with tons of veg in it.

The trick I've found is fairly chunky veg in it then cook it for almost an hour. That way it reduces right down and there's no water bits of tinned tomato left. Then blend it and it's quite thick and doesn't separate

are you allergic to mascarpone?

www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/member-recipes/recipe-detail/684/

(I find I get a better sauce with passata too)

I find if I cook it for ages before I blend it then I don't end up with the grainy texture. I start mine off on the hob and then put it in the oven for a couple of hours so the veg are very soft and well cooked.

Cook it for longer and then blitz it with a hand blender.

I use pasatta instead of tinned toms.

It takes me hardly any time at all to make a nice sauce using passata.

2 red onions, 3 red peppers, chopped roughly. Add table spoon olive oil and half tea spoon thyme, can also add about third tea spoon chilli flakes if you like a kick to it. Spread out on roasting tin, at this point brush on more oil (I add the spices at this point otherwise it just all sticks to the mixing bowl with the oil) if most has been left in the mixing bowl.
Oven gas 7, roast for half hour. Allow to cool then blend with passata to taste ( I buy the 500g carton but only use about a quarter. Add salt ? pepper to taste.

Voila a really tasty sauce!