Homemade Pasta Sauce help..

[crazycanuck]

The other day I followed this recipe but took out the chillies http://allrecipes.com.au/recipe/2168/print-friendly.aspx

Mine turned out orange rather than the normal red colour and it didn't seem to have that saucy taste. It had a subtle zing but something needs to be added.

Any suggestions? I'd like to make it again with some additions to see the difference.

Ta
C

[chryss]

Onion, preferably red.

My standard super-cheap pasta sauce recipe is:

- chop onion(s), garlic
- heat olive oil in a pan
- gently sautee onions until translucent, add garlic, sautee a bit more
- dump a can of tomatoes (or fresh, peeled tomatoes, but you get good quality cans nowadays)
- add dried (or fresh) tyme, herbes de provence, whatever seasoning you like, salt, black pepper (plus crushed chili)
- let simmer until great, the longer the better -- it's kinda edible after 20min, but if you can let it simmer for 45, it's better.

If you add ground beef, carrots, other vegetables it might be necessary to let simmer for 1.5h. Some vegetables need to be added late (peas...).

[Susan]

Yes, it needs onion.
Roast 1 onion, (maybe add a little bit of rosemary) and then add the tomatoes, let them get soft and then blend everything together like in the recipe.

If you use fresh tomatoes like in the recipe, it will be more orange than red. If you want it red and a little bit thicker, you can add tomato-paste (or use canned tomatoes). Also, you can use some sweet pepper if you don't like it hot.

[Melalvai]

I like roasting the tomatoes first and throwing them (skins & all) in the food processor.

[crazycanuck]

Lovely, tanks!! I shall try it again this week & report back.

[OakLeaf]

+1 on the onion - but also, I've never made a semi-raw sauce like that. Long slow cooking brings out a lot of flavor in the tomatoes ... as well as evaporating a lot of the water in them. You might do like Chryss and use drained jarred tomatoes.

Depending on how sweet the tomatoes are, most pasta sauce recipes (even old recipes that would've assumed you could get good ripe tomatoes) call for a teaspoon or so of sugar. You don't really taste it as sugar, but it brings out a lot of flavor.

A pinch of hot red pepper can bring out a lot of flavor too, even if you don't add enough that it tastes hot.

[spokewench]

My favorite non-meat marinara sauce is:

dice 1 large carrot; 2 sticks celery, 1/2 onion saute till onion is transluscent in olive oil. Add one large can of crushed tomatoes, 2 tablespoons tomato paste, add garlic (I add alot, but do this to your taste) add small amount of dried oregano, thyme, basil Iif you do not have fresh). Simmer for 1 hour. Add chopped fresh basil if you have it and did not add dry) Place in blender and blend (be careful hot liquids in blender are dangerous, place lid on blender and hold down with kitchen towel).

If you want to add the roasted red peppers as in your other recipe, this will change the taste a bit and I like this sometimes, but not always. Just add them whole out of the bottle or if you roasted them yourself, get rid of the seeds. This will also cause the sauce to change color a bit and make it a bit more orange then red.

If you want a little more richness in your sauce, once it is blended, add a bit of cream; but of course, this will turn it a different color as well, but this is nice for a much more rich flavor.

[crazycanuck]

What i'm trying to do is not add anything from a can or jar to make my pasta sauce...

What'll happen if i place the tomatoes n some olive oil in a pan & let it simmer then put it in a blender..would that make any sense? Or the other way round?


You've given me tooooooo many options.......ooooooooo

[oz rider]

I can't see why you'd use cans either; real food tastes so much better. I'm doing another batch of Oven Roasted tomato sauce:

2kg ripe tomatoes (more if I have them)
2 big onions, roughly chopped (I use Spanish)
12 garlic cloves
dash olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic
1 tbsp brown sugar
salt and fresh pepper

Halve/quarter tomatoes and toss with garlic, onions and olive oil in a baking dish. Bake for an hour 200C or until tomatoes are soft and slightly scorched and onions are cooked. Cool so you can peel off and discard tomato skins (or not) and squeeze the cooked garlic over the tomatoes. Add the balsamic, sugar, salt and pepper and stir (or whiz to a mush if you prefer). Reheat and serve. Freeze whatever you don't use in meal-sized batches.

[Susan]

What i'm trying to do is not add anything from a can or jar to make my pasta sauce...

What'll happen if i place the tomatoes n some olive oil in a pan & let it simmer then put it in a blender..would that make any sense? Or the other way round?


You've given me tooooooo many options.......ooooooooo


Yes, you can do that. Just roast an onion, put the sliced tomatoes in, add spices. Then let it simmer for quite some time (until some of the water of the tomatoes is gone). If you want to you can blend it afterwards, but it becomes sauce-like just from simmering. Adding some paprika will make it a little bit thicker.

I just made tomato sauce yesterday (your fault :D) with an additional eggplant in small pieces - tastes great too.

[Trek420]

a teaspoon or so of sugar. You don't really taste it as sugar, but it brings out a lot of flavor.

Bingo! Simple good ingredients whether the tomatoes are canned, fresh, roasted or a mix of all three. Long slow cooking. Endless variations of what to add to the mix such as 'shrooms, vegies, meat, wine ... but a touch of sugar is a key.

[spokewench]

I can't see why you'd use cans either; real food tastes so much better. I'm doing another batch of Oven Roasted tomato sauce:

2kg ripe tomatoes (more if I have them)
2 big onions, roughly chopped (I use Spanish)
12 garlic cloves
dash olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic
1 tbsp brown sugar
salt and fresh pepper

Halve/quarter tomatoes and toss with garlic, onions and olive oil in a baking dish. Bake for an hour 200C or until tomatoes are soft and slightly scorched and onions are cooked. Cool so you can peel off and discard tomato skins (or not) and squeeze the cooked garlic over the tomatoes. Add the balsamic, sugar, salt and pepper and stir (or whiz to a mush if you prefer). Reheat and serve. Freeze whatever you don't use in meal-sized batches.

Can't get good fresh tomatoes at a decent price in the winter; that is why I use canned.

[spokewench]

A few of you say that sugar is the key; I disagree, I think chopped up carrots in the key - they add the sweet/sugar to the sauce for me.

[withm]

I always grate the carrots for spag sauce

[nolemom]

Making homemade marinara as I type for the Shrimp Diabolo we are having tonight. It has to have the holy trinity - onion, celery and carrots.

[Susan]

My mum often made vegetarian pasta sauce for us with celery, carrots and parsley root roasted in leek + tomato sauce. It really tastes great!

[malkin]

And if a bit of sauce gets a bit stuck on the bottom of the pan, stir it back in. That's my secret. A little bit of caramelized stuff works the same as a little sugar.

[crazycanuck]

Yum Yum...! I hit the jackpot last week when making some pasta sauce :) but now need some more info.

I chopped up some tomatoes, added a few herbs n spices, 300ml water & then let it simmer on the stove...I then added some tomato paste & chicken...ooo..mmmm....

So, my question is: How do i thicken the sauce without the tomato paste? Cornstarch???

Ta!
C

[OakLeaf]

... cook it longer. Tomato paste is just tomatoes strained and cooked a long, long time. When I sauce tomatoes for the freezer it usually takes about three hours to reduce the volume by half.

Starting with paste tomatoes helps (lower moisture, Roma type varieties).

Maybe you could do it in a slow cooker with the lid off? I don't know if it's hot enough in those things to stick.

[spokewench]

Yum Yum...! I hit the jackpot last week when making some pasta sauce :) but now need some more info.

I chopped up some tomatoes, added a few herbs n spices, 300ml water & then let it simmer on the stove...I then added some tomato paste & chicken...ooo..mmmm....

So, my question is: How do i thicken the sauce without the tomato paste? Cornstarch???

ta!
C
[/B]I see nothing wrong with Tomato Paste, but don't add any water, and simmer longer, i.e. let it cook down more with the lid off

[badger]

I think some of you might be horrified, but ketchup has always been a quick fix for too-tart or bland sauce for me. It works as a sweetner and a thickener (all you foodies please don't hate me, I'm not Italian in any way shape or form)

[alpinerabbit]

Fry some finely chopped celery (root, celeriac) along with the onions and garlic - until all forms a light-brown layer on the bottom of the pan. deglaze with red wine or stock. Lovely round-off for the taste.
A half stock cube goes into mine at all times.
Sugar, too, &try a pinch of cinnamon!

[OakLeaf]

Also, if what you're going for is wanting to avoid tomato paste in cans, Bionaturae has it in jars - it's imported from Italy into the USA, so I expect you can get that brand in Australia as well.

[smilingcat]

What i'm trying to do is not add anything from a can or jar to make my pasta sauce...

What'll happen if i place the tomatoes n some olive oil in a pan & let it simmer then put it in a blender..would that make any sense? Or the other way round?


You've given me tooooooo many options.......ooooooooo

Read the recipe and been thinking about why your sauce turned orange. The olive oil and other ingredients emulsified with lots of air. Thus the orange colour rather than red.

Red capsicum is Aussie and English name for red bell pepper. The recipe sounds interesting but I think I would skip the water if you are using the whole roma tomato instead of just the "meat". I think that is what the ingredient really meant.

Yes you could cook down the tomato first in a skillet to remove excess water. Add about a table spoon of red wine per tomato. The alcohol helps to release the flavor in the tomato so that you can taste it. If you are using a paste tomato you should skip the reduction in the skillet as it does NOT have enough juice.

Roasting the tomato before you puree would also make this sauce more richer.
Adding a half tsp of sugar helps to control the acid taste of the sauce. Full teaspoon is also fine. You want to use it sparingly so as not to sweeten the sauce.

Adding of hot chilli pepper does similar thing as sugar in terms of livening up the taste of the sauce.

If you want to add the "umai" flavor, add between 1 tsp and 2 tsp of anchovy paste. Trust me on this.

I think the roasted red pepper sauce is wonderful!

This is very similar to Bobby Flays' roasted bell pepper sauce (not for use with pasta). Good for chicken...

Personally, I think I would skip black pepper as it would detract from a beautiful red sauce. Last thing I want to see is black specks. Also black pepper isn't the right taste for this sauce. It should be hot chilli pepper.

I think I would use this sauce other than for pasta.

good eats!

[alpinerabbit]

I second the anchovies, trick a friend told me, haven't tried but it works in other stuff...