A staple in my refrigerator is a good tomato sauce. Sometimes I don’t have much time to cook or I want to just hang out with my little family after I get home from work. The problem with not taking the time to cook a meal is that we end up eating packaged or fast food. To combat this, I now keep a jar of fresh sauce in the refrigerator and throw together a quick vegetarian pasta on nights like this.
My favorite part of simple tomato sauces is that you can easily adjust the flavors and make it into your own creation. As I was developing this sauce recipe I tried different tomatoes, different spices (fresh vs. dried, spicy vs. not, etc.) and settled for a sauce that is lightly sweetened playing well with the tomatoes and with the savory Italian flavors you expect in your favorite dishes. If you like it spicy, up the amount of red pepper flakes. Salt free diet? Easy, just remove the salt from the recipe. Prefer fresh herbs? Go for it! Not about the vegetarian life? Okay! Just separately brown your preferred meat, drain, and add it to the sauce before you start simmering (I recommend sweet Italian sausage, ground beef, ground veal, or ground turkey).
To make this simple tomato sauce you need just 5 ingredients and some herbs and spices:
– Tomatoes
– Tomato Paste
– Onion
– Garlic
– Olive Oil
– Herbs and Spices
While you can easily get away with simmering this sauce for about 20 minutes and have it taste great, I highly recommend simmering it for at least an hour. The more you cook it, the more flavor you will get.
This sauce is a great base for a ton of recipes. In the days to come you can expect recipes using this sauce including: Lentil Pasta with Roasted Vegetables and Vegetarian Baked Mostaccioli.
Ingredients
- 1 28 oz can Whole San Marzano Tomatoes in Puree processed or crushed
- 1/2 Large Sweet Onion finely chopped
- 4 Cloves Garlic crushed
- 2 Tbsp Tomato Paste
- 1 Tbsp Light Brown Sugar
- 1/2 Tsp Dried Oregano
- 1/2 Tsp Salt
- 1/4 Tsp Red Pepper Flakes
- 2 Bay Leaves dried
- 1 Tbsp Basil Leaves finely chopped
Instructions
- Prepare your ingredients by finely chopping your onion, processing or hand crushing your canned tomatoes to your desired consistently (remove the basil that it is packed in the can with), and crushing of finely chopping your garlic.
- In a medium saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat.
- Once hot, add finely chopped onions and saute 4-5 minutes until they begin to get soft and turn golden brown.
- Add crushed garlic and continue to saute for 30-60 seconds, stirring constantly being careful to not burn your garlic.
- Add tomato paste and stir well. Add your prepared tomatoes and stir to combine.
- Add brown sugar, dried oregano, red pepper flakes, salt, and bay leaves. Stir to combine.
- Reduce heat to a low simmer and cover. Cook for at least 20 minutes but preferably 60 minutes or more. Stir frequently to prevent scorching.
- Remove the pan from the heat and stir in fresh chopped basil. Remove bay leaves.
- At this point you can enjoy it immediately or put it in a jar for 5-7 days in the refrigerator or months in the freezer.
