When I get tomatoes from the garden, I blend them up – yes skins and all. Add garlic, basil, oregano, salt and pepper. No particular amounts – where’s the fun in that? And all tomatoes are not equal in their acidity or sweetness, so no set amounts of seasoning would work all the time.
If it’s not fresh from the garden, I use any cheap jar sauce, or use canned tomato sauce with seasoning.
@katbyter anytime a recipe calls for a stick of butter I automatically think it’s a Paula Deen joint. I’m pretty sure that is the smallest measurement of butter in her kitchen.
@djslack@simplersimon@TheMeerkat Yes, Meerkat’s is the one I was going to post - Marcella Hazan came out with it back in the 70’s, way before that ole Paula Deen came along; it’s all over the Internet and rightly so because it’s so damn easy and so damn good! I do add a tiny bit of sugar to cut the acidity, and olives or anchovies if I have them.
Mid-level (or premium store brand) jarred sauce to which I add my own ground beef or sausage, and spices. Wal-Mart used to sell great chunky sauces for just $1.28, but naturally they discontinued them. Some Great Values are too great.
I made my homemade sauce tonight. I use the easiest method I can. It starts with Pomi tomato sauce. I pour the amount I need in the sauce pan on medium low heat on the stovetop. I shake in about 1/8 to 1/2 tsp of oregano. Shake in garlic and onion powder. Add dried chopped onion to absorb some of the liquid from the sauce. I also add some canned or pre-cooked ground turkey. While that heats I put angel hair pasta in a microwave steamer and set that for five to seven minutes depending on the amount of pasta. Usually the sauce and pasta are ready at the same time. I sometimes top it with Kite Hill Almond Cream cheese alternative.
Always sauté chopped or dice onions and minced garlic. Then can add dried spices like bay leaf, oregano, basil. Olives and capers are nice here. Can also melt in some anchovies. A little alcohol to deglaze, then either make it an oil-based sauce or add the tomatoes. Afterwards, add in the fresh herbs and cheese if you want.
I don’t usually have all the ingredients but throw some carrots/onions/celery through the food processor to get a fine dice. Add some tinned crushed tomatoes and spices and some beef and let it stew for a few hours. Not much effort and you can just freeze the leftover sauce.
Usually canned. Reputable brand like Hunts, etc. Nothing too fancy. Sometimes, of course, I over-buy fresh tomatoes and if they start to go soft, I peel (quick-boil method), seed and puree them. Sometimes cook that down immediately, sometimes freeze the puree.
I make the family “recipe” Quites inserted because as any good Nonna would do they had no measurements. You just learn and add to taste
One tip or addition I have made is to add whole baby carrots at the beginning of the process and I remove them before the dish is served. Somehow the carrots neutralize the acidity level.
@RiotDemon you can, but I don’t. My moms dog has claimed eternal dibs on those tasty treats! He loves them and waits by the stove begging until he gets them.
Edit: I should add that the addition of the carrots floating around in the sauce does not affect the flavor profile. That was my concern the first time I tried it. A chef friend gave me the tip and swore I would not taste the carrots, he was right!
@RiotDemon@tinamarie1974 Interesting! I’m going to try that! (That’s the only thing I’d use those so-called “baby” carrots for - I don’t like them as is.)
Are we talking about an ingredient for something more elaborate, or just to use unadulterated as a pasta sauce? I am fine with a cheap canned sauce for the former. For the latter I am still going to add ground beef and/or mushrooms, but will opt for one of the major brands like Prego or Ragu.
Start with a jarred sauce, but add basil, organo, fresh crushed black pepper, etc.
boil and stir and season to taste. But if you are not adding fresh basil, what even are you doing with your life?
Almost everything comes out of my garden. Fresh tomatoes, basil, oregano, onion, garlic. Saute the onion and garlic in olive oil, add herbs. Add skinned, chopped tomatoes, simmer 30 minutes or more.
I grow my tomatoes, pour boiling water over the ripened tomatoes,the skin comes off easelly, cut the tomatoes into pieces onto a large frying pan with some butter,fry till the water from tomatoes evaporate,and there you have fresh tomato sauce.
This reminds me of a time my twenty something year old couple roomies offered me to have dinner with them. It turned out to be warmed up marinara sauce and noodles only…THAT’S when I knew I was dealing with children.
From scratch. Fresh tomatoes and herbs if they’re in season, canned/dried (with homemade paste) if not.
Here’s my recipe using canned tomatoes and dried herbs. Measurements are approximate, because I generally use “about that much.” It’s vegetarian, because I’m usually cooking for my wife. If you want meat, cook 1 lb of Italian sausage in the soffritto before you add the liquid ingredients.
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
3/4 cup tomato paste (or 1 small can)
1/2 cup cheap dry red wine
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 stalks celery (preferably with leaves)
1 yellow onion
1 large carrot
1 red or orange bell pepper (optional)
2-4 cloves garlic
1 tbsp dried basil
2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
Salt to taste
Make a soffritto (it would be a mirepoix, but we’re cooking Italian here): finely mince the onion, carrot, celery, and bell pepper and cook them, covered, in about 1 tbsp of oil or butter over low heat until the onions have reduced and all the vegetables are tender.
Crush and mince the garlic and stir in. If you’re adding sausage, now’s the time to do it.
Add all remaining ingredients, cover, and simmer for at least 4 hours.
(My gardening goal next year is to be able to make a sauce that’s as close to 100% homegrown as possible. I’m pretty sure the only ingredients I can’t produce myself are the olives, black pepper, and salt. Yes, I make my own wine and vinegar.)
15 lbs fresh plum tomatoes (I grow San Marzanos in my garden)
1/2 cup red wine
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar (if canning, a 6% acidity vinegar can replace citric acid, and adds a great flavor)
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp kosher salt
Quarter the tomatoes and stew them with the wine and oil for a couple hours. Strain them into a large skillet or saucier (I use a food mill, but you can do it by hand). Add the salt and vinegar. Simmer over the lowest possible heat, stirring occasionally, until the desired consistency is reached. If you’re canning it, process for 45 minutes. Otherwise refrigerate for up to a month. Makes about 16 oz.
@unksol I don’t mind admitting I take my Italian food very seriously. It’s in the blood - you know how every Italian-American will tell you that their grandma was the best cook on the East Coast? Well, mine actually was.
@dannybeans honestly then only reason I know the word is cause of this
If you start at 7 minutes in and give it a minute you’ll hear it about 5 times as he can’t recall it lol.
And since I just toss mine in a food chopper and then in a pan and the rest is just what’s on hand I certainly don’t feel qualified to use the word. Turns out ok but I’m sure could be improved by idk. Having all the ingredients to finish one. It’s a decent place to start though.
if it’s for pizza, i buy a can of whole peeled tomatoes and then gently squeeze one as you lift it from the can to release the seeds. then, add it to a bowl and crush with your hands. (be prepared to be sprayed with tomato a time or two, even if you do this very carefully.) add 1t of dried oregano and diamond crystal kosher salt, and 1/2t dried basil and garlic powder. also a pinch of crushed red pepper. mix, cover, and let it sit on the counter or in the fridge for awhile (a few hours, or do it the day before.) you can add back a few tablespoons of the juice from the can if it seems too dry. otherwise, discard or save it for cooking rice or whatever.
anyway, if it’s for spaghetti and meatballs, and i don’t have any of my mom’s secret family recipe all day sunday sauce in the freezer, i’ll go one of two ways.
marcella hazan’s butter and onion sauce. a large (28oz) can of peeled tomatoes and their juice, 5T butter, and an onion (halved and peeled). kosher salt. simmer for an hour. that’s it. the original recipe would have you discard the onion, i either eat it (chef’s snack!) or blend it into the sauce (i don’t like chunky cooked sauce so i take an immersion blender to mine at the end).
a more traditional path but not as time consuming as the family recipe stuff. fry just a 1/4 of a sweet onion (chopped), lots of minced garlic, some crushed red pepper, dried oregano and dried basil in olive oil. then, add a couple cans of whole peeled tomatoes and their juice. a tsp of the aforementioned salt and, only because i love my partner, a little sugar. (if it was just for me, never.) let it bubble away and periodically come by to stir it and bust up a tomato or two with the cooking utensil. if you have an hour, good. if you have 30 minutes, passable. (esp if you’re then going to put meatballs in it and simmer it for awhile longer.) again, i like to immersion blend mine because i don’t like chunky red sauce, but ymmv.
28 oz whole skinned plum tomatoes, large yellow onion, 6 tbs butter.
Put can tomatoes in pot
Cut peeled onion in half, place in pot
Add butter
Bring to boil, then simmer uncovered for 45 min
Remove onion add 1 lb favorite cooked pasta
Serve
When I get tomatoes from the garden, I blend them up – yes skins and all. Add garlic, basil, oregano, salt and pepper. No particular amounts – where’s the fun in that? And all tomatoes are not equal in their acidity or sweetness, so no set amounts of seasoning would work all the time.
If it’s not fresh from the garden, I use any cheap jar sauce, or use canned tomato sauce with seasoning.
@katbyter that but also some fresh rosemary
Stick of butter, four cups of peeled tomato, half an onion. Simmer for 30-45 mins, remove the onion half. Done
@simplersimon Butter? Interesting. May have to try. But that’s a lot of butter!
@katbyter @simplersimon I like to use half a stick of butter and 1/4 cup or so olive oil.
@simplersimon butter makes it better!
@simplersimon @TheMeerkat’s recipe linked below is very similar, but with 13% less tomato, 38% less butter and 100% more onion.
I believe I’ll have to give one of these a try soon.
@katbyter anytime a recipe calls for a stick of butter I automatically think it’s a Paula Deen joint. I’m pretty sure that is the smallest measurement of butter in her kitchen.
@djslack from my southern grandma, so yeah, Paula Dean type. Including the racism.
@djslack @simplersimon @TheMeerkat Yes, Meerkat’s is the one I was going to post - Marcella Hazan came out with it back in the 70’s, way before that ole Paula Deen came along; it’s all over the Internet and rightly so because it’s so damn easy and so damn good! I do add a tiny bit of sugar to cut the acidity, and olives or anchovies if I have them.
Mid-level (or premium store brand) jarred sauce to which I add my own ground beef or sausage, and spices. Wal-Mart used to sell great chunky sauces for just $1.28, but naturally they discontinued them. Some Great Values are too great.
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/544003/pasta-sauce-hailed-worlds-best-surprisingly-easy-make-home
seriously, it’s the best pasta sauce ever. i made it just tonight.
I used to make it from scratch, but I decided the amount of electric it took to cook it down wasn’t worth it.
I might use a jar, or make it from canned, or from fresh. Usually one of the first two. No specific recipes but I often look online for ideas.
My favorite jarred sauce is Rao’s (any flavor really), and my favorite canned tomato is Cento.
Recently I made an okra-tomato sauce, before that a gochujang sauce.
Gotta work on all the pastadrop pasta!
I am not completely lazy, so I add some fresh vegetables to the bottled sauce.
I made my homemade sauce tonight. I use the easiest method I can. It starts with Pomi tomato sauce. I pour the amount I need in the sauce pan on medium low heat on the stovetop. I shake in about 1/8 to 1/2 tsp of oregano. Shake in garlic and onion powder. Add dried chopped onion to absorb some of the liquid from the sauce. I also add some canned or pre-cooked ground turkey. While that heats I put angel hair pasta in a microwave steamer and set that for five to seven minutes depending on the amount of pasta. Usually the sauce and pasta are ready at the same time. I sometimes top it with Kite Hill Almond Cream cheese alternative.
Whether homemade or from a jar - add red wine before cooking. Adds so much complexity to the flavor.
Always sauté chopped or dice onions and minced garlic. Then can add dried spices like bay leaf, oregano, basil. Olives and capers are nice here. Can also melt in some anchovies. A little alcohol to deglaze, then either make it an oil-based sauce or add the tomatoes. Afterwards, add in the fresh herbs and cheese if you want.
I’ve recently started doing a basic bolognese
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/spaghetti-bolognese-3644814
I don’t usually have all the ingredients but throw some carrots/onions/celery through the food processor to get a fine dice. Add some tinned crushed tomatoes and spices and some beef and let it stew for a few hours. Not much effort and you can just freeze the leftover sauce.
Usually canned. Reputable brand like Hunts, etc. Nothing too fancy. Sometimes, of course, I over-buy fresh tomatoes and if they start to go soft, I peel (quick-boil method), seed and puree them. Sometimes cook that down immediately, sometimes freeze the puree.
Prego traditional.
It doesn’t give me heartburn.
If I’m making spaghetti, I add ground beef.
Ragu for me. My cooking is too random to compete with a sure thing. For variety, might pick a different of their flavors.
I make the family “recipe” Quites inserted because as any good Nonna would do they had no measurements. You just learn and add to taste
One tip or addition I have made is to add whole baby carrots at the beginning of the process and I remove them before the dish is served. Somehow the carrots neutralize the acidity level.
@tinamarie1974 do you eat the carrots afterwards?
@RiotDemon you can, but I don’t. My moms dog has claimed eternal dibs on those tasty treats! He loves them and waits by the stove begging until he gets them.
Edit: I should add that the addition of the carrots floating around in the sauce does not affect the flavor profile. That was my concern the first time I tried it. A chef friend gave me the tip and swore I would not taste the carrots, he was right!
@RiotDemon @tinamarie1974 Interesting! I’m going to try that! (That’s the only thing I’d use those so-called “baby” carrots for - I don’t like them as is.)
@Kyeh @RiotDemon well and I guess you could use regular carrots as well. I just always grab a bag of the baby ones.
@RiotDemon @tinamarie1974 For that purpose I think they’d be perfect. I just don’t like to eat them plain.
Some garlic and onions sauteed and deglazed with red wine. Add tomatoes and salt, pepper, and parsley to taste. Simmer and serve. Delish!
Sauce Marcella. Onion, butter, and San Marzano tomatoes. Seriously simple.
Classico, all day all night.
Are we talking about an ingredient for something more elaborate, or just to use unadulterated as a pasta sauce? I am fine with a cheap canned sauce for the former. For the latter I am still going to add ground beef and/or mushrooms, but will opt for one of the major brands like Prego or Ragu.
Start with a jarred sauce, but add basil, organo, fresh crushed black pepper, etc.
boil and stir and season to taste. But if you are not adding fresh basil, what even are you doing with your life?
Almost everything comes out of my garden. Fresh tomatoes, basil, oregano, onion, garlic. Saute the onion and garlic in olive oil, add herbs. Add skinned, chopped tomatoes, simmer 30 minutes or more.
I grow my tomatoes, pour boiling water over the ripened tomatoes,the skin comes off easelly, cut the tomatoes into pieces onto a large frying pan with some butter,fry till the water from tomatoes evaporate,and there you have fresh tomato sauce.
This reminds me of a time my twenty something year old couple roomies offered me to have dinner with them. It turned out to be warmed up marinara sauce and noodles only…THAT’S when I knew I was dealing with children.
From scratch. Fresh tomatoes and herbs if they’re in season, canned/dried (with homemade paste) if not.
Here’s my recipe using canned tomatoes and dried herbs. Measurements are approximate, because I generally use “about that much.” It’s vegetarian, because I’m usually cooking for my wife. If you want meat, cook 1 lb of Italian sausage in the soffritto before you add the liquid ingredients.
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
3/4 cup tomato paste (or 1 small can)
1/2 cup cheap dry red wine
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 stalks celery (preferably with leaves)
1 yellow onion
1 large carrot
1 red or orange bell pepper (optional)
2-4 cloves garlic
1 tbsp dried basil
2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
Salt to taste
Make a soffritto (it would be a mirepoix, but we’re cooking Italian here): finely mince the onion, carrot, celery, and bell pepper and cook them, covered, in about 1 tbsp of oil or butter over low heat until the onions have reduced and all the vegetables are tender.
Crush and mince the garlic and stir in. If you’re adding sausage, now’s the time to do it.
Add all remaining ingredients, cover, and simmer for at least 4 hours.
(My gardening goal next year is to be able to make a sauce that’s as close to 100% homegrown as possible. I’m pretty sure the only ingredients I can’t produce myself are the olives, black pepper, and salt. Yes, I make my own wine and vinegar.)
Homemade tomato paste:
15 lbs fresh plum tomatoes (I grow San Marzanos in my garden)
1/2 cup red wine
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar (if canning, a 6% acidity vinegar can replace citric acid, and adds a great flavor)
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp kosher salt
Quarter the tomatoes and stew them with the wine and oil for a couple hours. Strain them into a large skillet or saucier (I use a food mill, but you can do it by hand). Add the salt and vinegar. Simmer over the lowest possible heat, stirring occasionally, until the desired consistency is reached. If you’re canning it, process for 45 minutes. Otherwise refrigerate for up to a month. Makes about 16 oz.
@dannybeans I was waiting for someone to throw soffritto in there lol.
@unksol I don’t mind admitting I take my Italian food very seriously. It’s in the blood - you know how every Italian-American will tell you that their grandma was the best cook on the East Coast? Well, mine actually was.
@dannybeans honestly then only reason I know the word is cause of this
If you start at 7 minutes in and give it a minute you’ll hear it about 5 times as he can’t recall it lol.
And since I just toss mine in a food chopper and then in a pan and the rest is just what’s on hand I certainly don’t feel qualified to use the word. Turns out ok but I’m sure could be improved by idk. Having all the ingredients to finish one. It’s a decent place to start though.
it depends on what the sauce is for.
if it’s for pizza, i buy a can of whole peeled tomatoes and then gently squeeze one as you lift it from the can to release the seeds. then, add it to a bowl and crush with your hands. (be prepared to be sprayed with tomato a time or two, even if you do this very carefully.) add 1t of dried oregano and diamond crystal kosher salt, and 1/2t dried basil and garlic powder. also a pinch of crushed red pepper. mix, cover, and let it sit on the counter or in the fridge for awhile (a few hours, or do it the day before.) you can add back a few tablespoons of the juice from the can if it seems too dry. otherwise, discard or save it for cooking rice or whatever.
anyway, if it’s for spaghetti and meatballs, and i don’t have any of my mom’s secret family recipe all day sunday sauce in the freezer, i’ll go one of two ways.
marcella hazan’s butter and onion sauce. a large (28oz) can of peeled tomatoes and their juice, 5T butter, and an onion (halved and peeled). kosher salt. simmer for an hour. that’s it. the original recipe would have you discard the onion, i either eat it (chef’s snack!) or blend it into the sauce (i don’t like chunky cooked sauce so i take an immersion blender to mine at the end).
a more traditional path but not as time consuming as the family recipe stuff. fry just a 1/4 of a sweet onion (chopped), lots of minced garlic, some crushed red pepper, dried oregano and dried basil in olive oil. then, add a couple cans of whole peeled tomatoes and their juice. a tsp of the aforementioned salt and, only because i love my partner, a little sugar. (if it was just for me, never.) let it bubble away and periodically come by to stir it and bust up a tomato or two with the cooking utensil. if you have an hour, good. if you have 30 minutes, passable. (esp if you’re then going to put meatballs in it and simmer it for awhile longer.) again, i like to immersion blend mine because i don’t like chunky red sauce, but ymmv.
28 oz whole skinned plum tomatoes, large yellow onion, 6 tbs butter.
Put can tomatoes in pot
Cut peeled onion in half, place in pot
Add butter
Bring to boil, then simmer uncovered for 45 min
Remove onion add 1 lb favorite cooked pasta
Serve
@davea510 this recipe seems crazy popular in this thread.
@davea510 @RiotDemon I am just surprised with the popularity of butter in sauce. News to me!!
Are you watching me? Made a batch of sauce yesterday.