Pasta/Tomato/Red Sauce with Dried Herbs and Spices

[deltadoc]

Lycopene, it occurs in cooked tomatoes.

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Actually, the lycopene from cooked tomatoes is more easily absorbed by the body, but it is still present in tomato paste to the tune of ~6.5 mg/100grams of paste as compared to 3.1mg/100 grams of tomatoes.

Average consumption is still being worked out, but ~6.5 mg per day is considered beneficial and safe.

doc

[Jaymes]

What pre-made sauce do you find that you actually like to use? I tend to find issues with most of them (I'd say most of the time, it's the fact they have sugar or HFCS in them).

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Somewhere we have at least one thread, and actually I think perhaps several, wherein we discuss commercial pasta sauces.

I heartily recommend Mom's Garlic & Basil Spaghetti Sauce

I'll point out here that I do usually make my own from recipes quite similar to the ones discussed in this thread, among others, but I do like keeping a few jars of Mom's in the pantry, just in case.

Here is the list of ingredients:

INGREDIENTS: Tomatoes (vine ripened fresh unpeeled tomatoes, extra heavy tomato puree, salt, citric acid), Fresh Garlic, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Fresh Basil, Sea Salt, Lemon Juice, Black Pepper, Vitamin E (source soy).

No sugar. No HFCS.

[Tom Gengo]

It is a pity that the strong advocacy of this sauce so early in this topic has almost shut the thread down.

I'd really like to see what others have to offer. Hang in there project, yours is the next one I'm going to try,

I agree for the most part.

I was kind of looking for ideas from all over.

I will admit, though, that even being Italian (well, Sicilian), I never really thought about butter in a tomato sauce

That is expected. Butter is more from Northern Italian dishes while in the South of Italy Olive oil is the preferred fat.

[Tom Gengo]

28 oz. of crushed tomatoes- all other canned tomatoes have calcium choride which prevents the tomatoes from breaking down

I am right now looking at a can of La Valle DOP San Marzano pomodori pelati. Calcium chloride is not listed as an ingredient. Looking on the internet, I also do not find calcium chloride listed as an ingredient in cans of whole peeled tomatoes by Bel Aria, San Marzano tomatoes by Ciao, and others.

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Most standardly available grocery store "processed" tomatoes have CaCl2 added to maintain the form of the tomato. I was not attacking you w/ the comment. Perhaps rephrased, avoid tomatoes that have calcium chloride added because the tomatoes will not break down while cooking. As such, it eliminates the unnecessary step of milling the tomatoes, they cook down as they slowly simmer.

[KatieLoeb]

What pre-made sauce do you find that you actually like to use? I tend to find issues with most of them (I'd say most of the time, it's the fact they have sugar or HFCS in them).

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Sorry - just saw your reply today. I tend to buy the "light" sauces that have less sugar and calories in them to start, so that helps. I carefully read the label and aim for 30% calories from fat or less. Not too much sugar or HFC. Also the "garden style" or "chunky" sauces with tons of veggies tend to taste better to me and usually meet that criteria. I rarely use them alone, but use them more as an additive, if that makes sense. I'll saute up real vegetables, lots of herbs (fresh and/or dried) and canned diced tomatoes (or fresh ones in summer) and just use the commercial sauce as "glue" to moisten everything and hold it together and give it a more saucy texture. A splash of wine (whatever I'm drinking while I cook) helps too. Then the sauce tastes more like fresh homemade and less like commercial ingredients. It requires a small effort, but is less of a Herculean cooking effort than slicing and dicing for hours followed by simmering for hours. I do that sometimes too, and freeze a mess of it so I don't have to do it again too soon, but for everyday, this is quick and tasty. I'm a big fan of doctoring canned/jarred/bottled food, but only if you read the labels before you buy it and definitely not in a Sandra Lee kinda way. My ratio is 70:30 fresh to commercial, not the other way around.

[Magictofu]

I tried the butter-tomato sauce described earlier in this topic this week. Once with potato gnocci and another time with spaghetti. I liked the simplicity of the procedure and my partner truly enjoyed the dishes I have made. The butter rounded the otherwise sharp taste of the tomatoes, something olive oil surely can't do.

My only concern was that a simple pasta+sauce dish remains fairly one-dimensional (something that is probably to be expected given the minimal number of ingredients). Grated parmesan cheese was an obvious and delicious addition but I thought some greens such as baby spinach, arugula or watercress would be a nice addition tastewise and texturewise. I'll have to admit that my knowledge of Italian food is quite limited but I'm sure there are other traditional and non-traditional ways to add a few sparkles to dishes made with a simple tomato sauce. Any suggestions?

[slkinsey]

Grating cheese over the plate is always a good accent for something like this. As is minced parsley. Or a pinch of crushed red pepper.

Once you go much beyond that, you're not really in a "simple tomato sauce" any more. Then, the possibilities are infinite.

I'm not sure how you contemplate incorporating things such as spinach, arugula or watercress. Finely chopped and added as a herb at the end?

[Starkman]

Marcella mentions that you can make this sauce with fresh tomatoes.  The problem with that scenario is that I can think of a few hundred other things to do with fresh toms [in season] other than a cooked sauce.

What? With a ton of tomatoes that usually come in when one plants even a few tomato plants? Hek, people are usually giving tomatoes away!

Starkman

[SobaAddict70]

Marcella mentions that you can make this sauce with fresh tomatoes.  The problem with that scenario is that I can think of a few hundred other things to do with fresh toms [in season] other than a cooked sauce.

What? With a ton of tomatoes that usually come in when one plants even a few tomato plants? Hek, people are usually giving tomatoes away!

Starkman

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I just feel that with tomatoes being in season for only four months out of the year, there are better things to do with fresh toms than in a cooked sauce.

This is a separate topic btw. Not meant to derail the thread.

[Starkman]

I just feel that with tomatoes being in season for only four months out of the year, there are better things to do with fresh toms than in a cooked sauce.

This is a separate topic btw.  Not meant to derail the thread.

No, we're not deraling it. I ask this question because I want to know, assuming an abundance of fresh tomatoes are not an issue, if people would still prefer to make tomato sauce from canned tomatoes. If so, why?

Thanks,

Starkman

[SobaAddict70]

I just feel that with tomatoes being in season for only four months out of the year, there are better things to do with fresh toms than in a cooked sauce.

This is a separate topic btw.  Not meant to derail the thread.

No, we're not deraling it. I ask this question because I want to know, assuming an abundance of fresh tomatoes are not an issue, if people would still prefer to make tomato sauce from canned tomatoes. If so, why?

Thanks,

Starkman

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Fresh tomatoes in season. It's an important distinction that you've left out.

I'd have no difficulties making a cooked tomato sauce with fresh tomatoes. But I intentionally limit myself by using only vegetables in season -- so consequently, I don't see myself making this sauce all that often...unless I bought a tray of toms at the peak of the season while they were at their most flavorful, and canned them myself. That's always a possibility.

I did make this a couple weeks ago using Pomi crushed toms. Occasionally I break my own rules.

edited for additional clarification -- fresh toms are available year round in supermarkets and believe it or not, at USGM here in NYC; however, the ones on offer out-of-season are hydroponically grown, cost more (as much as $7/lb.) and in my opinion, don't have that same "oomph" as toms that are available in-season.

so with their limited availability -- from about July through the middle to end of October here in NYC, I want to use them in ways that don't necessarily involve a cooked preparation. perversely I think it's kind of limiting -- to use an ingredient that's at the height of its glory in something as mundane as red sauce. and based on some of the responses here, there are people who want to add stuff to it so that it's not just a simple tomato sauce anymore, it's something else. if it works for you, that's great! it's just that I have a different thought process.

Edited May 29, 2009 by SobaAddict70 (log)

[Magictofu]

I just feel that with tomatoes being in season for only four months out of the year, there are better things to do with fresh toms than in a cooked sauce.

This is a separate topic btw.  Not meant to derail the thread.

No, we're not deraling it. I ask this question because I want to know, assuming an abundance of fresh tomatoes are not an issue, if people would still prefer to make tomato sauce from canned tomatoes. If so, why?

Thanks,

Starkman

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One big reason which is often frown upon by otherwise well meaning people is convenience (I blame the convenience oriented cooking shows for that).

Canned tomatoes are always available in most pantries while fresh tomatoes have to be bought or harvested shortly before making the sauce. I would also add that, sadly, most grocery stores do not even keep fresh local tomatoes when they are in season and stick with their usual year-long providers of bland tomatoes. This makes the hunt for good tomatoes even more difficult to those living far from a farmers market.

[divalasvegas]

In response to the original topic, I often make a large batch of very, very basic tomato/pasta sauce from pantry staples. The usual suspects:

Whole, peeled tomatoes

Tomato sauce or puree

Tomato paste

Olive oil

Fresh minced garlic (several cloves)

Crushed red pepper flakes

(if I have them on hand, which I usually do, I'll add a bay leaf)

I sweat the garlic in the olive oil, then slightly turn up the heat and add the tomato paste working it into the olive oil and garlic to cook off the rawness and concentrate the flavor. Then I stir in the tomato sauce/puree and the hand-crushed whole, peeled tomatoes and a little crushed red pepper flakes. I also will add some water since I'm looking for a sauce that's not too thick or thin and let it simmer for at least an hour, stirring occasionally. THAT'S IT. No herbs, onions, mushrooms, carrots, celery, bell pepper, etc., not even salt or black pepper or even wine. I then freeze the sauce in different sized containers to be used later for a variety of uses.

For instance, if I want to make a hearty sauce featuring meatballs and/or Italian sausage that's when I'll add red wine, more minced garlic, chopped onion and bell peppers, and sliced mushrooms. I'll also also add small amounts of dried herbs (oregano, basil, rosemary), usually no more than two types, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, probably some more red pepper flakes, and let that simmer.

If it's a lighter sauce for seafood, then I'll add white wine, more garlic, minced red or yellow onion or shallots, red pepper flakes, fresh ground black pepper, a squeeze of lemon, only one type of herb (either basil or oregano), little or no salt, simmer then add the seafood. I really like seared scallops and shrimp.

In both of the above cases any vegetables to be added are sauteed first in olive oil and then the wine is added and reduced before adding the sauce.

And for when I'm really feeling lazy, it's also pretty good all by itself (adding a little salt and fresh ground pepper) over pasta, sometimes tossing the pasta with a bit of butter before adding the sauce, with just some grated parmesan. I think I remember hearing about doing this on Sara Moulton's former show Cooking Live when, as I recall, Martin Scorsese was a guest promoting his family's cookbook and mentioned that his family would add some butter to hot pasta before saucing. Very tasty.

[Benjamin B]

I decided to try the recipe for the very basic sauce that slkinsey recommended.

We made some gnocchi to go with the sauce, a basic spinach salad with roasted balsamic onions.

It was a perfect match for the freshly made gnocchi.

Thank you for the recipe, I've never made that sauce before.

[Starkman]

Fresh tomatoes in season.  It's an important distinction that you've left out.

Eee gads! Yeah, I left that out! And that is, by the way, what I meant all along; fresh in season toms!

I mean, yeah, I wouldn't waste the time of day making sauce out of the toms provided by the stores in my area. By no means!

Sorry about that,

Starkman

[Magictofu]

Grating cheese over the plate is always a good accent for something like this.  As is minced parsley.  Or a pinch of crushed red pepper.

Once you go much beyond that, you're not really in a "simple tomato sauce" any more.  Then, the possibilities are infinite.

I'm not sure how you contemplate incorporating things such as spinach, arugula or watercress.  Finely chopped and added as a herb at the end?

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Dropped on top, uncooked... almost like a salad. Eventually the leaves melt with the residual heat of the dish but most keep a bit of crunch. I do this quite often and I'm not sure when I started doing this but it works well for some simple dishes.

[project]

Okay, some pictures, each worth at least 10 words!

My old sack of Nikon equipment only uses film, and my available digital film scanning quality is not very high. So, took some pictures with a $20 digital camera bought from a hook at Wal-Mart!

So, start with a 2 quart Pyrex casserole dish.

Add 1 C of loosely frozen ground beef sauteed in olive oil with onions, garlic, and black pepper, and drained.

Then add 1 C loosely frozen Mozzarella cheese.

Add two cans of beef ravioli.

Add 2 C of tomato sauce.

Heat in microwave at 100% power for 12 minutes, rotate 1/2 turn, and heat for another 10 minutes.

Top with about 5 ounces of freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese.

Serve with a glass of red Chianti wine.

About 1/2 the dish makes a good dinner for one.

It's a fast, good weekday dish. The tomato sauce keeps for at least two weeks, and the rest of the ingredients keep for months.

[PopsicleToze]

Thank you so much to the original poster. Inspired by the thread, I've had a lovely simple pasta dinner 2X in the past week -- all while lovingly watering my tomato plants in anticipation of good things to come. We hope! Last year my tomatoes didn't do worth a durn, but hope springs eternal.

[MikeJ]

I've made slkinsey's tomato/onion/butter sauce about 15 times since I read about in this thread. Seriously, seriously good. Sometimes I chop up some basil and throw it on at the end, but it's thoroughly satisfying all on its own.

[paulraphael]

No, we're not deraling it. I ask this question because I want to know, assuming an abundance of fresh tomatoes are not an issue, if people would still prefer to make tomato sauce from canned tomatoes. If so, why?

Fresh, in season tomatoes, when they're good, are SO good with nothing done to them. I hesitate to use them in anything that's cooked more than a little bit. If you're simmering for a long time, you're essentially doing the same thing that canning does.

When I've made sauces with excellent fresh tomatoes, I've favored styles like concasse ... French for "crushed." Tomatoes peeled and seeded, very coarsely chopped, and warmed in a pan with some cooked aromatics. Cook the tomatoes as little as possible, and season as little as possible. They don't need much.