I was at Little Dom's the other day with my friend, Jeff, and he was requesting my recipe for basic tomato basil sauce. So here's the story behind how I make mine.First off, I have a family recipe for bolognese sauce (meat sauce) that takes all day to make, so I rarely make it. It's a special treat, let it simmer all day, kind of sauce. When I was a kid, my mom made the sauce on Sunday and we ate it all week. Nowadays, I find myself needing a basic tomato sauce that I can just throw together. I've experimented with fresh tomatoes, diced canned tomatoes, and tomato paste. Finally I was inspired by an article in Saveur Magazine. Issue 117, The Saveur 100, The Home Cook Edition. Anyone interested in cooking should find this issue. It is full of invaluable cooking info and completely inspiring to a home cook at any level. Here's what it says about whole canned tomatoes:
Pride of the Pantry
From ratatouille to chicken tikka masala, beef bourguignon to steak pizzaiola, tomatoes play an integral part in many dishes we love. But prime tomato season is short, way too short. That's why we rely on—and, often, actually prefer—WHOLE CANNED TOMATOES. These pantry staples, a bulwark against winter blandness, are the epitome of year-round dependability and deliciousness. We're not talking about the machine-diced ones, which lack succulence and substance, or canned tomato purée, which too often tastes insipid. We crave whole, peeled canned beauties, plump and firm and picked at the peak of ripeness. We love that they're ready to use—no blanching or peeling required. Need a quick pasta sauce? Pull a few tomatoes out of the can and crush them in your hand, letting the pulp slide through your fingers into the pan. Fancy a quick, tasty curry? Caramelize a few crushed whole tomatoes in clarified butter or oil along with whole spices, garlic, ginger, and meat. On nights when we're in need of comfort, fast, it's calming to know that with one whirl in the blender or the Cuisinart, we can have the start of a thick, fresh tomato soup. We add black pepper, lemon juice, and Tabasco to the juice of canned tomatoes for a bracing morning drink, or splash in some smoky oloroso sherry for an afternoon alternative.
Our supermarket shelves are lined with 28-ounce and 32-ounce cans of whole tomatoes packed by producers using different varieties of the fruit and various canning methods. Some of the tomatoes are round globe tomatoes; some are oval plum varieties. Some are as big as a fist; others are petite and cherrylike. We've met many cooks who swear by the Italian san marzano, a supersweet variety of plum tomato grown mainly in the volcanic soils around Mount Vesuvius, and others who prefer the vibrant, intensely flavorful organic tomatoes grown in California's Central Valley and canned by Muir Glen (we're particularly fond of its smoky-tasting fire-roasted variety). We've always had a special affection for Red Pack tomatoes, whose oversize, firm fruit can be sliced neatly and mingles delightfully with mayonnaise and iceberg lettuce for a one-of-a-kind BLT sandwich. Personal predilections and cravings aside, one thing remains beyond debate: no matter the brand, at their best canned tomatoes have a sunny essence that sparkles on its own.
Encouraged by this article, I bought a can of whole peeled tomatoes and decided to give it a shot. Here's the rundown:
1 can 28 oz whole peeled tomatoes
3-6 cloves of garlic, depending on your taste
2 tbs olive oil
2-6 tbs of chopped fresh basil, again depending on how much you like. You can also use dried basil, but grind it up between your fingertips when adding to the sauce
salt & pepper
parsley, optional fresh or dried
First, slice up your garlic.
When I first started cooking, I used to use a garlic press. Then I moved on to mincing it up into tiny pieces. Finally, I read in Anthony Bourdain's amazing book, Kitchen Confidential, that you should only slice garlic very thinly, or chop up, so as not to ruin the flavor. Here's what he says exactly about how to prepare garlic:
"By hand-peeling, and slicing or chopping it fresh. Use fresh garlic. Slice thinly -- like in Goodfellas -- or chop it fresh. Always do it by hand. That garbage that comes out of a garlic press is not food. Ditto the vile sludge in jars."
By, "vile sludge in jars," he is referring to the prepared minced garlic that you can get at the grocery store. It has been many years since I've used garlic from a jar. Fresh garlic lasts a long time, is cheap, and goes in EVERYTHING. You should have some around at all times.
Drizzle about 2 tablespoons of olive oil into a deep skillet or sauté pan on medium heat. I make this sauce right in the skillet as opposed to a larger pot, because it cooks nice and fast and makes a small amount enough for two servings or to spread over a lasagna or something.
Add the garlic to the pan, but keep the heat the on low-medium heat so you don't burn the garlic. Now add about half of your chopped basil. When chopping the basil, be sure to not mince up to fine or you will bruise the herb. Stir the basil around in the oil with the garlic.
Add some fresh cracked pepper right into the pan, so it gets all toasty and mix it up with the garlic and basil.
Heat all of this on low-medium making sure not to burn the garlic for couple of minutes until it's fragrant and the garlic is cooking.
Now to add the tomatoes. First, decide how you like your sauce. If you like it chunky, smooth, or a little bit of both. I like it differently depending on what I'm serving with the sauce. I might want a very chunky sauce for a simple spaghetti dinner for myself, but a very smooth sauce for homemade ravioli for guests. So there are a couple of ways to prep your tomatoes.
You can take the tomatoes out of the can and crush them with your hands right into the pan, then pour the juices from the can in along with them.
You can put the whole can in the pan and squash the tomatoes with the back of your spoon, so all the juices run out.
Or you can do what I do, which is use your kitchen shears to cut up the tomatoes right in the can. This gets the tomatoes crushed but eliminates some of that stringy mess of flattened tomatoes. It makes more chunks rather than squashed tomatoes.
So now you've got your tomatoes and all the juices from the can in your pan, by whichever method suits you best. Stir it all up. Now, go about your business preparing whatever else you are cooking. This sauce thickens without tomato paste by just reducing uncovered on it's own. The flavors deepen and the mixture thickens depending on how long you leave it. After about 15 minutes you will have a basic sauce.
If you let it go longer, it will get reduce down and get very thick. Here you may choose to add some red wine to add more flavor and volume. Sometimes I get busy with other cooking and look over and realize I don't have as much sauce as I need, so I add wine, to water it back down.
When your sauce is done to a thickness you like, you should grind more cracked fresh pepper over it, and stir in the rest of your basil.
If you want a smooth sauce, pour it into your blender or food processor and pulse for a few seconds until you get your desired consistency.
Lastly, a few more tips:
When draining your pasta, save some of the cooking water. Add a little of that starchy cooking water to your sauce for extra creaminess.
After draining your pasta, put it back in the pot and pour a cup full of sauce on top. Stir it up to moisten the pasta, and serve with sauce along side.
Another way to prepare the pasta if you are plating it just for yourself or for two, is to put the pasta with some of the sauce into the frying pan and on high heat, stir it constantly so to distribute the sauce and heat thoroughly. This really adds something to the taste and ensures it will be hot at the table.
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