I used to keep a jar of spaghetti sauce in my refrigerator until a friend of mine taught me how to make my own. A good tomato sauce takes a bit of time, but it’s easy, it keeps well and you can also double the recipe and freeze some for later in the month when you’re buried in projects and final exams. The sauce is excellent by itself and can be used with some penne or ziti or as the base for a bunch of other recipes.
The sauce:
1 large Vidalia onion
4 cloves garlic
1 carrot
3 tbsp. vegetable or olive oil
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. red chile flakes
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cz. red wine (optional)
1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes
Slice the onion in half, peel it and grate it on the largest side of a box grater. Peel the carrot and grate it on the next smallest side. Grate the garlic on the same side.
Heat the oil in a medium saucepan on high heat. When it’s good and hot, add all of the other ingredients — except the red wine and tomatoes — and turn the heat down to low. You want to cook the onions all the way through without browning them. You’ll have to keep stirring them and it’s going to take about 15 to 20 minutes. There should be little or no crunch left in the vegetables; you want the mixture to almost melt in your mouth. Add a little bit of water if it starts to dry out.
Once the vegetables are “sweated,” add the red wine and simmer for about five minutes. Add the tomatoes, turn the heat up to bring the sauce to a boil then and then turn it down to let it simmer.
Keep simmering for at least an hour, stirring every 10 to 15 minutes. After an hour, season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for another hour or so. You can use this sauce right away, but I find that it’s much better after it refrigerates overnight. Personally, I like my tomato sauce chunky, but you can also puree it in a blender if you prefer a smoother consistency.
Like I said, the sauce is great on its own, but here are a few of my favorite variations:
Spinach and Ricotta
When you’re boiling the pasta, add a few handfuls of frozen spinach to the water about 1 1/2 minutes before it’s done. Drain the pasta and spinach together and add about a cup of sauce, a bunch of red chili flakes and 1/2 cup ricotta cheese.
Sausage and Peppers
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Heat a teaspoon of oil in a cast iron skillet. Brown two or three Italian sausages, slice up a quarter of a large onion and a large bell pepper, add them to the skillet and roast the whole thing in the oven for about 20 minutes, stirring the peppers and turning the sausages every five minutes or so. When the peppers and onions are soft and tender, slice the sausages and put them back in the pan with about a cup of sauce. When the mixture comes to a boil, mix it with your favorite pasta or refrigerate it. This sauce will also be just as good or better the next day.
Bolognese
Cook a pound of ground meat (any combination of beef, pork, lamb or veal) in a large, heavy bottomed saucepan until it’s dark brown. Add half of a large onion (finely diced) and two or three cloves of chopped garlic. Sautée for about five minutes, add a good splash of red wine, simmer for five minutes and add a quart of sauce. Simmer like the original sauce and then serve or refrigerate overnight. This sauce also freezes well.
You can reach this columnist at thescene@theeagleonline.com.
