Oftentimes, I purchase a jar of pasta sauce and add vegetables to it so it becomes a bit healthier rather than spending the time to cook down the tomatoes. It does NOT take that much time to create a good sauce, I should do it more often. What it does take is the “right” tomatoes and I do not find them as often as I would like.
This recipe allows many avenues for customization. Enjoy playing with your food and making a different sauce each time, or work on perfecting one recipe. Just remember, each tomato has its own flavor profile; appreciate the flavor you get with each batch of sauce as you might not be able to replicate it. This can be made as a marinara sauce or a meat sauce; you decide!
Base Ingredients:
Tomatoes that are VERY RIPE.
Onion or Shallot
Garlic
Carrots
Basil
Olive Oil
Meat is Optional
Steps:
PREPARATION:
1. Rinse and dice the tomatoes into quarters. You can create the sauce with virtually any quantity that you have a pot large enough to use; I just do not make the sauce unless I have at least 4 cups of tomatoes after dicing them into quarters.
2. Dice 1 onion or 2 shallots for every 4 cups of tomatoes
3. Dice 3-5 cloves of garlic for every 4 cups of tomatoes
OPTIONAL: Dice 1 carrot per 4 cups of tomatoes to add a “sweet” flavor to your sauce.
COOKING:
1. Sautee the onion (or shallot) and garlic in 2-4 tbsp olive oil until translucent. Add the tomatoes, cover, and turn the burner to simmer and let the tomatoes cook down. Stir from time-to-time to check on progress. Depending on the quantity you are cooking this may take 30 minutes to a few hours.
2. Once the tomatoes have cooked down you may wish to add salt, pepper, or crushed red pepper to taste.
3. Some people prefer a “smooth” texture to the sauce and may with to pulse it in the blender to achieve the texture of choice.
Serving Suggestions:
• Serve the sauce over your favorite gluten free pasta (or a combination pictured here).
• You can add sautéed meet or additional vegetables to your sauce based on personal preference!
• Top with grated Parmesan or Pecorino Romano (Imported cheeses are more flavorful)
• Garnish with basil
