SUNDAY SAUCE (TOMATO SAUCE)

 

The time has come to finally share my sauce recipe. There are few things more calming than spending a Sunday afternoon making a pot of tomato sauce. My Sunday sauce recipe has developed over the years. My sauce begins with a base of onions, carrots, celery and garlic, and the main body of the sauce comes from roasted, peeled Roma tomatoes. The sauce is enhanced with a few dried herbs, red wine, and fresh basil. If you have a garden full of fresh tomatoes, you can easily substitute those for the Roma tomatoes; just be sure to adjust the quantity of garden tomatoes based on their size. Here is my sauce recipe. Enjoy!

Ingredients

12-15 Roma tomatoes

1 medium onion, diced

2 carrots, diced

2 stalks of celery, diced

5 cloves of garlic, minced

½ cup basil, chopped

12 oz tomato paste

1 cup water

1 cup red wine

2 tsp salt, divided

1 tsp black pepper, divided

½ tsp dried thyme

½ tsp dried oregano

First we must prep the tomatoes. Remove the stems and core the tomatoes. Slice the tomatoes in half lengthwise and arrange them on a foiled baking tray cut side down. Broil the tomatoes on high for 10-15 minutes until the skin wrinkles and lifts from the tomatoes, blackening a little. Once the tomatoes are done, remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

Once the tomatoes are cool enough to handle, peel the skin from each tomato. After they are all peeled, purée them in a food processor (or in a bowl with an immersion blender). Blend until the tomatoes are completely puréed. Set the tomato  purée aside.

In a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat, add olive oil and then the onion, carrot, and celery. Sauté the vegetables for 4-5 minutes. Add 1 tsp of salt, ½ tsp of black pepper, the thyme, and the oregano. Stir to blend, and sauté for an additional 4-5 minutes, until the vegetables are soft. Add the garlic, sauté for 1 minute until fragrant, and then add the tomato purée. Stir. Turn the heat to low and allow to simmer for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, use an immersion blender to fully purée all of the vegetables in the tomato purée. Purée until completely smooth. Once smooth, add in the tomato paste and water. Stir to fully combine. Cover the sauce and allow to simmer for 10 minutes.

Remove from the sauce from the heat to avoid splattering, wait a minute, and then remove the lid. Add the red wine, 1 tsp of salt, ½ tsp of pepper, and chopped basil. Stir to combine, return the sauce to the heat, and replace the lid.

Make sure the heat is set to a fairly low setting, and allow the sauce to simmer for 30 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and stir the sauce every few minutes. After 30 minutes, turn off the heat and give the sauce a final stir. The sauce is done.