How to make a fantastic tomato sauce?

[ellesapelle]

I went to Jamie's Italian the other day and had chicken with a tomato sauce. The sauce was amazing - lovely and sweet with so much flavour.

My standard tomato sauce is sauteed onion and garlic, tin of chopped tomatoes and some balsamic vinegar/herbs etc. I add some sugar but the sauce still tastes a bit bitter. OK, but not great.

Any tips? Would fresh tomatoes work better? The ones in the shops always look a bit anaemic to me. I currently use Napolina tinned.

Tomato puree.
A bt more sugar.
Or marmalade.
Fresh tomatoes don't make a difernece.

Experiment with a base of finely diced carrots and celery and onion too.

Get some big vine tomatoes that really smell delicious. Toss in bit of oil and garlic and roast them. Blitz them and then use them instead of your tinned tomatoes.

yes, roast them first and then cook with them. How about red pepper in the sauce, that would make it very sweet.

Mind you, I made a really good sauce the other day with just a can of tesco's chopped tomatoes, 2 cloves of garlic, a small onion, 1 tsp of sugar and a loads of oregano. Left it to stew for about 20 mins and it was lovely

Is your garlic fresh? If there are green bits growing in it, it'll make it bitter. Ditto for onions.

a bit of all of the above and demerera sugar and red wine

DH does a brilliant tomato sauce just from tinned toms.

celery, carrot, onion finely chopped and cooked until soft. then garlic until soft. then tinned toms, tom puree. i get a bit hazy on what happens when , but usually some red wine, a splash of balsamic or red wine vinegar and a pinch of sugar. the vinegar seems to make a big difference. i believe a squeeze of lemon is a fairly standard alternative in italy too - think you need both the sugar and acid to balance it well and give it depth of flavour. cooks on simmer for at least 30 mins.

fresh basil right at the end. or a bit of chilli or dried herbs at the start depending on what flavour you want.

freezes brill too, and can be eaten chunky or pureed (good for pizzas then).

Thanks for the suggestions.

I shall definitely try roasting some vine tomatoes and see if they have more flavour.

megonthemoon - the thing about sugar and acid is interesting so will give that a try as well.

Jamie says if you boil them high and for long enough toms will be sweet.

I use a carton of passata, some shalot/onions, garlic, basil at the end and it's yummy.

A squirt of good tomato ketchup in there often adds a bit of sweetness. Crushed garlic essential IMO too and plenty of fresh ground black pepper.