How to Make Pasta Sauce
Jarred pasta sauces have come a long way, but, still, none of them hold a candle to homemade. If you've been relying on jarred stuff because you don't think you have the time or skills to learn how to make pasta sauce from scratch, you'll be pleasantly surprised by the recipe below.Since fresh tomatoes and basil are key to this classic recipe, you'll obviously get the best results during the summer months when both are in season (and hence less expensive) and at their peak flavor. But that doesn't mean you have to go without homemade pasta sauce in the winter! Both tomatoes and fresh herbs are available year-round at most grocery stores these days, so you can whip up a batch anytime. Alternatively, you can make a huge batch during summer to stock in your freezer for months when tomatoes are not in season.
Transcript
Hi, I'm Miranda with recipe.com, and today I'm gonna show
you how to make fresh tomato sauce. Now, a good
tomato sauce is at the heart of so many great
meals; pizza, pasta, saute, vegetables, or soups. So, you can
take advantage of the summer harvest freezing a nice batch
of the sauce and you will be one step closer
to a garden fresh meal. So, I have our ingredients
all laid out here. Let's get started. We have 4-1/2
cups of plum tomatoes; a quarter cup of extra virgin
olive oil; 3/4 cup of chopped garlic, it's about 2
heads. Then, we have 4 cups of diced onions, 1-1/2
teaspoons of salt, 1/4 cup of tomato paste, 1 teaspoon
of dried oregano, 1/2 cup of red wine, 2 tablespoons
of red wine vinegar, 1/2 cup of wonderfully fresh chopped
basil, and then freshly ground pepper to taste. Now, we
have this large pot of water over here that's been
brought to a boil. So, what I'm going to do
is with this paring knife I'm going to start by
coring the tomatoes. So, just making a little incision at
the top, I'm just going kind of pop out literally
the little core, this little steamy part just like that.
So, see perfect, so get that out of the way.
So, as what I did to the top, now I'm
gonna score the bottom. So, we're just gonna make like
a little x, and we've scored the bottom. Now, in
batches, I'm going to transfer my tomatoes to the boiling
water and I'm going to let them boil for 30
seconds to 2 minutes or until the skins have loosened.
Okay, so my skins have loosened. I can start taking
them out. I'm gonna use a slot spoon, so you
can see how the skin has split. This is going
to make peeling this abreast. So, I'm just going to
give this a little ice bath. We're [unk] this. I
have a large bowl here with ice water and I'm
gonna let them sit in here for 1 minute until
they're cold a little bit, and I'm ready to handle
them. Okay, so, the next step, these have cold, we're
are going to peel these. I have this nice bib
bowl here and I have a sieve fashioned on top
and using a paring knife, but honestly, I may not
even really needing for this for coming off so well.
We're just going to peel these and just let the
peels fall in to the sieve, so perfect. Now, with
the paring knife, we're just gonna cut this in half
lengthwise and just with my hand like with a little
cute little finger, I'm just gonna scoop out the seeds,
perfect, and then scoop again, just kind of scoop this
out until all the seeds out and then through the
sieve, you can put your tomatoes to the side. You're
just going to squeeze of all kind of any juice
that you can of the seeds and out of the
skins and just kind of push those to the bowl
below, and then I'm gonna continue with the rest of
your tomatoes. Okay, so look how much great juice I
extracted from the seeds and the skins and then I
just coarsely chop these tomatoes and we're ready to set
this aside because we are now going to heat our
oil. So I've got this large [unk] or you could
use a Dutch oven, whichever. So, we're gonna heat this,
pop our garlic in and stirring constantly, we're to cook
the garlic for about 2 to 3 minutes or until
it starts to color and get really fragrant. Already, it
smells incredible. Alright, now check out my garlic, starting to
get some color here, looks beautiful. Now, we're going to
add in the onions and the salt, and I'm gonna
pop a cover on this, stirring occasionally and I'm gonna
let this cook until the onions are nice and tender
about 10 to 15 minutes. Alright, check out our onions
and garlic. They are wonderfully tender. The smell is just
incredible in here. So, I know that it is time
to add in my tomato paste and the oregano, and
I'm gonna cook this in here also stirring occasionally for
about 2 to 4 minutes or until the tomato paste
begins to brown a little bit on the bottom. Alright,
look how nice and kind of coating the bottom is
getting a little bit, perfect. It's now time to add
in the red wine and then the red wine vinegar,
and we're gonna let this come to a simmer, which
is doing nicely already until it reduced slightly about 2
minutes. So, that's reduced. It looks great. It is time
to add in the tomatoes and that juice that we
squeezed out. So, we're still leaving the basil and the
pepper for later. We've not forgotten about them. Look at
that and over there. Let's give this a nice stir
to incorporate everything. I'm gonna cover this, reduce the heat,
and let it just gently simmer for about 25 minutes
or until the tomatoes have mostly broken down. Alright, so
check out our tomato sauce. The tomatoes have broken down
beautifully. This looks fantastic, smell even better. Do not forget
about our basil. We're just gonna sprinkle that right in.
Give it a nice toss. Make sure our heat is
off, fantastic. I cannot express how good this smells, but
I will stop trying because our very last step is
to puree this. So depending upon the consistency that you
like, you are going to either puree all of this
in a food processor or blender. I'm gonna use a
food processor here of if you like your sauce to
be a little bit kind of chunky like I do,
you'll just puree half like I about to do, and
then just mix the pureed part back in. Oh my
gosh, so good, so exciting, and then you'll be good
to go. So, I'm just gonna give this a few
pushes, and if you're working with a food processor, always
make sure that you pay attention line where it says
max liquid line. That is an important thing to know.
And so you'll just do this in batches, but for
me because I want it to stay kind of chunky,
I'm just gonna puree this a little bit. Lift this
up and I'm just going to add it right back
in, remove the blade, look at that. Look how gorgeous.
Now, I could have mixed even longer, but that will
give it a really nice texture. Its consistency is amazing.
It smells fantastic. I'm so excited. So, I'm going to
enjoy some of these tonight maybe over some pasta and
freeze the rest. So, I can enjoy fresh tomato sauce
all year long.
What You'll Need
- 4 1/2 pounds plum tomatoes
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 3/4 cup chopped garlic, (about 2 heads)
- 4 cups diced onions, (3-4 medium)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 cup red wine
- 2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
- freshly ground pepper, to taste
Step By Step
1
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Place a large bowl of ice water next to the stove. Using a sharp paring knife, core the tomatoes and score a small X into the flesh on the bottom.
2
Place the tomatoes in the boiling water, in batches, until the skins are slightly loosened, 30 seconds to 2 minutes.
3
Using a slotted spoon, transfer the tomatoes to the ice water and let sit in the water for 1 minute before removing.
4
Place a sieve over a bowl; working over it, peel the tomatoes using a paring knife, and let the skins fall into the sieve.
5
Halve the tomatoes crosswise and scoop out the seeds with a hooked finger, letting the sieve catch the seeds. Press on the seeds and skins to extract any extra juice. Coarsely chop the peeled tomatoes and set aside.
6
Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant and just beginning to color, 2 to 3 minutes. Add onions and salt, stir to coat, cover and cook, stirring often and adjusting heat as necessary to prevent burning, until soft and turning golden, 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in tomato paste and oregano and cook, stirring often, until the tomato paste is beginning to brown on the bottom of the pan, 2 to 4 minutes.
7
Pour in wine and vinegar; bring to a simmer, scraping up any browned bits with a spoon. Cook until reduced slightly, about 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and any juice; return to a simmer, stirring often. Reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes are mostly broken down, about 25 minutes.
8
Remove from the heat; stir in basil and pepper. Transfer the sauce, in batches, to a blender or food processor. (Use caution when pureeing hot liquids.) Process until desired consistency. For a smooth sauce, puree it all; for a chunky sauce, puree just half and mix it back into the rest of the sauce.
9
MAKE AHEAD TIP: Cover and refrigerate for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 6 months.
Once you master the basics, you can play around with the recipe to tailor the sauce to your personal tastes. You may prefer a little more garlic, want it a little sweeter, or prefer a bit of heat from crushed red pepper.
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