Category: Foodology


Cooking with Thursday’s Child: Tomato Sauce

Filed Under: Foodology, General, Home Life, Life by Thursday's Child — 2 Comments
Thursday, 10th June, 2010

A couple days ago, on Twitter, I posted some pictures as I outlined how I make my home-made tomato sauce. I promised I would make a post, laying the process out a little more coherently, so here it is:

Ingredients:

  • 1 large onion
  • Fresh Basil
  • 10-12 Roma Tomatoes
  • Garlic
  • Dried oregano, rosemary, and thyme
  • 2 large cans crushed tomatoes.
  • 2 small cans tomato paste
  • Heavy Cream
  • Red wine (Cheap is a-okay)
  • Salt and Black Pepper
  • Sugar
  • Olive Oil

Step 1: Preheat your oven to 375. Halve, and seed 7 Roma tomatoes. (To seed them most easily, just cut out the little seed pockets. I used a paring knife.) Lay them out on a sheet pan, and coat with olive oil, oregano, rosemary, salt, and some black pepper. Roast for 6-7 minutes, turn them, and roast for another 6-7 minutes. Time may vary based on size/ripeness. Just watch for the skins to pull away from the flesh.

Tomato sauce, step 1. on Twitpic

Step 2: Chop a large onion, 6-7 cloves of garlic, and some basil. Heat some oil in the bottom of your big stock pot, and sweat the onions and garlic until the onions are translucent. Lower the heat and add the basil, two cans crushed tomatoes, and about 2 tablespoons of sugar (this helps cut the acid). quarter the remaining romas, and add those too. Bring to a simmer.

Step 2. While roasting tomatoes, chop onion and garlic. Sweat... on Twitpic

Step 3: Remove and skin the roasting Roma tomatoes. They’ll be hot, but the skins should pull right off. Discard the skins, and let the roasted tomatoes rest.

Step 3: remove roasting tomatoes, remove skins, let sit. on Twitpic

Step 4: Add red wine, and let it simmer for about 15-20 minutes, covered. This will let the flavors marry, and it’ll keep it from reducing too much.

Step 5: Add two cans of tomato paste, to thicken the mixture and add cream. You can add as much or as little cream as you like. It’s really about taste here. Stir it in, and let it simmer some more.

Step 6: add cream, 2 6oz cans tomato paste (to thicken), and ... on Twitpic

Step 6: Add the roasted tomatoes to the sauce, and use your trusty immersion blender (you’ve got one, right?) or your trusty regular blender and blend the whole mixture until it’s smooth.

Step 7: blend until homogenous, and enjoy! on Twitpic

This whole thing should make quite a bit of sauce. Use what you want now, and freeze the rest. It’s freezes really well, and to thaw it out, just cut some off the frozen block and cover it over low heat. Stir it around until it thaws, and you’re good to go.

Enjoy!

Comment

Cooking of Thursday’s Child

Filed Under: Foodology, General, Life by Thursday's Child — 4 Comments
Thursday, 25th September, 2008

As promised, I’ll tell you all about the tasty, tasty meal I made myself last night. I’ll also tell you what about it didn’t work, and what I’m going to try to do to make varieties on the theme.

What it turned out to be was tacos, but with a bit of a Mediterranean twist. First, I crushed and minced two cloves of garlic. I did this step first to really allow the garlic flavor to open up. The essential oils react with air, which brings out the flavors more the longer they sit out (but not indefinitely!). Next, I roughly chopped a whole red onion. I combined the two, and added them to a pot of boiling water. I took the pot off the flame and let the flavors meld in the hot water.

While those were steeping, I washed and cut up some potatoes into strips. I drained the onion and garlic, and used the pot to blanch the potatoes with a clove of garlic and a couple of fresh basil leaves.

While the potatoes were boiling, I added ground Italian sausage to the onions and garlic, threw in some kosher salt and fresh ground pepper, and mixed thoroughly, so the onions and garlic and sausage were all combined. I put some olive oil in a pan to heat, with some fresh chopped basil and fresh chopped dill. Threw the sausage mixture into the pan of hot oil and covered it. Meanwhile, I drained the potatoes, discarding the garlic clove and basil leaves.

When the meat finished cooking, I added some more olive oil to the drippings from the sausage, and let it heat up. I then briefly fried the potatoes to give them a nice crunch on the outside. I added kosher salt, black pepper, and some store-bought Creole seasoning.

Then, it was just a matter of putting some sour cream on a tortilla, adding some meat/veggies and a couple potatoes, and voila!

All told, it took me a little over half an hour to cook, and it made more than enough for me to have at least 3 meals out of it. Ultimately, I think if I cook it again, I’ll probably just use regular sausage, as the Italian sausage didn’t give me the exact flavor I was looking for. The Italian seasonings were just a bit too strong. Feel free to substitute any type of meat you may prefer, and some bell peppers of any color would also be a welcome addition.

Enjoy!

Comment
Powered by WordPress | Theme: Motion by 85ideas.