Pasta sauce

[Pumpkin&Piglet]

I am trying to make more of my own food stuff; sauces, cakes, pastries, jams etc so I know what's in the food I'm eating and hopefully it's better for me and my family.

Anyway, this evening I tried to make my own tomato sauce for pasta (I really like the red wine and herd one form Ragu) and it did not go as well as I hoped.

It seems to me a basic tomato sauce should be pretty simple but I'm clearly not getting it right. Does anyone have a good recipe that's quick, simple, not too much in it etc?

[Carltonian Man]

Sorry, don't have a recipe as such P&P but we find it's good to start with caramelised onions, finely chopped and gently fried in olive oil, followed by chopped toms (pref fresh). Add a good few grinds of black pepper plus chopped garlic, a couple of bay leaves and perhaps oregano. Keep it moving over a gentle(ish) heat until cooked. Adjust to taste with a touch of tom puree if required, a pinch of sea salt and maybe a dash of red wine (personally I'd sooner drink the wine).
Cook the alcohol off the wine then if you want a less chunky sauce buzz it with a hand blender.
You can always experiment by adding passata, veg stock, black olives etc.

Good luck, hope you enjoy
Edit: to say remove the bay leaves before blending the sauce.... oops

[boboff]

Lidl Passata and tin of Chopped Toms as the base.

Then season with Salt, Pepper, Garlic, Cheap mixed herbs. Simmer gently for a good 15 minutes.

You have to be very agressive with the seasoning and herbs to get the taste right.

Agree with the wine, drink it, don't waste it in cooking!

If you pass this through a sieve it is great on homemade pizza as well. ( don't forget keep your eye out for deals at the supermarket, often the half price deals for sauces are cheaper than buying the ingredients, and you get to re=use the nice jars)

[contadina]

First start by heating olive oil in a pan and then saute whatever ingredients you prefer until they are soft..thinly sliced garlic, onions, chilli, anchovies, parsley etc or a soffritto, which forms the base of many great Italian sauces (thinly diced onions, carrots and celery) add green peppers if you want a more Spanish-flavoured sauce. Cover the soffritto for around 15-20 mins stirring occasionally.

Then add either fresh skinned and deseeded tomatoes or whole tinned tomatoes, tomato puree and seasoning. For fresh tomatoes cook for around 15 mins stirring occasionally and for tinned tomatoes cook them slowly for around 30-mins until thickened without breaking them up until the end (if you chop tinned tomatoes too early it makes a slightly bitter sauce). At the end of cooking check for seasoning and add whatever herbs you want and a splash more oil. If using tinned toms also add a splash of balsamic vinegar (it helps sweeten the sauce and is better than adding either sugar or ketchup). If you cooked soffritto, but just want tomato sauce minus the vegetable chunks then blitz it when you've finished cooking.

If you are making a ragu with wine then cook for at least two-hours, preferably four over a low heat (I suspect that's yours didn't taste too good because it wasn't cooked for long enough). For a meatier option, not dissimilar to osso bucco, my neighbours first flour and then fry meaty chunks (any meat including sausage chunks) before adding tomatoes and whatever ingredients you prefer and cook slowly until the meat is cooked. Having flavoured the sauce, they then take out the meat chunks to eat afterwards and eat the sauce with pasta.

If you want quick but tasty pasta dishes check out a few recipes I blogged about http://contadina.wordpress.com/2011/08/ ... n-minutes/

[julie_lanteri]

same method as Contadina: soffritto then tomatoes, spices etc. we've always added sugar to balance the acidity. I'll ty with balsamic vinegar next time!
we usually have some form of meat (from bacon to chunks of beef) in it to add flavour. long slow cooking! mmm

[MKG]

Another vote for the soffritto.