Homemade Pasta Sauce help..

[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

[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.