Marinara Sauce II

From Special Sauce

Another week closer to Nathaniel's birthday and I have lapsed greatly in my preparation for this challenge! A few months ago I wrote down a bunch of recipes from the library, and found that pile when I cleaned off the coffee table. I got the ingredients for several sauces and decided on Marinara Sauce II from The Complete Book of Sauces. I chose it because it incorporated wine and mushrooms, both of which have been absent from the sauce experiments so far. I used a red wine that we were given as a welcome to the neighborhood gift from our neighbors and I have already forgotten what it was - it was very dry.

From Special Sauce

The sauce had to simmer quite a while, and it was definitely chunkier than I was looking for. I could have blended it before serving but was interested in following the recipe as written first. Nathaniel and I both agreed that the wine did not improve the sauce, but rather tempered the acidity of the tomatoes in a bad way. It tasted more like wine veg sauce than a nice tomato sauce. I wonder if I had added more acid (lemon, vinegar) if this problem would have been solved. I also slightly wonder if the mushrooms were partly to blame. Hard to tell, but this was the least favorite of the sauces so far.

Marinara Sauce II
3 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
3 lbs Italian plum tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped
1 6-oz can tomato paste
2 tsp chopped fresh oregano
2 tsp chopped fresh basil
3/4 cup dry red wine
1/2 lb fresh mushrooms, sliced
salt and pepper to taste

In a large, heavy skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat and saute the onion and garlic until just transparent, about 5-8 minutes. Stir in all the other ingredients except the mushrooms, and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes. Add the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper to taste, and simmer 5 minutes longer. Yield: 3 cups

So this is actually helping, by knowing what we don't like, I'm starting to narrow it down.

I don't like onions in large chunks. The flavor of the veg like carrot and mushroom is nice but the large chunks is not ideal.

The texture of the "Yellow" tomato sauce was better because it was thin and coated the pasta perfectly. I could adopt that technique to any flavor combo, I think, the adding of water and oil and emulsifying it at the end.

Wine - no. A good tomato sauce does seem to need some acidity.

Nunzio's Tomato Sauce

From Special Sauce

I was at the public library for a book repair workshop, so I sat and copied down a bunch of tomato sauce recipes. This one was picked because I didn't have to go to the store to buy anything for it! It comes from Italian Farmhouse Cookbook, written by Susan Hermann Loomis. Pretty basic, but cooking it over an hour brings a richness to the sauce.

From Special Sauce

Here it is bubbling away on the stove. You can see the oil around the bubbles on the surface of the sauce, and honestly I think I may cut back on oil by half if I make this recipe again. It tastes really good but I'm not sure the oil is adding much that half of the amount wouldn't do.

From Special Sauce

Here is the sauce after cooking for an hour and twenty minutes. Reduced completely, rich and delicious. We liked it, but for me, it wasn't unique enough to be called "special," and that is what I'm searching for.

Nunzio's Tomato Sauce

2 cans (28 oz each) whole tomatoes with juice (I used San Marzano)
4 cloves garlic, crushed and peeled
1 tbsp coarse sea salt
2 tbsp granulated sugar
6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup fresh basil

Place all ingredients in a medium-sized saucepan, cover, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium so the sauce is boiling gently, uncover, and cook, stirring occasionally and crushing the tomatoes, until all the liquid is evaporated, about 1 1/4 hours. Stir more often as it thickens.

Mario Batali's Basic Tomato Sauce

From Special Sauce

I'm running out of weeks before I need to have Nathaniel's unique tomato sauce so I went on an internet quest for another recipe to try. I thought Mario Batali would have some great Italian sauces, and came across his recipe for Basic Tomato Sauce. The reviews were great, many said it tasted exactly like what they've had in Italy, so I thought I would give it a try.

Basic Tomato Sauce

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 Spanish onion, 1/4-inch dice
4 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
3 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme leaves, or 1 tablespoon dried
1/2 medium carrot, finely grated
2 (28-ounce) cans peeled whole tomatoes, crushed by hand and juices reserved
Salt
Spaghetti, cooked al dente
Whole basil leaves, for garnish
Grated Parmesan, (optional)

In a 3-quart saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic, and cook until soft and light golden brown, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add the thyme and carrot, and cook 5 minutes more, until the carrot is quite soft. Add the tomatoes and juice and bring to a boil, stirring often. Lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes until as thick as hot cereal. Season with salt and serve. This sauce holds 1 week in the refrigerator or up to 6 months in the freezer.

When ready to use, the cooked pasta should be added to a saucepan with the appropriate amount of sauce. Garnish with basil leaves and cheese, if using.

*****

The step of crushing the tomatoes by hand brings up many questions for me. There were some chunks that never broke down even after 40 minutes of simmering, and as a result the sauce was chunkier than I would have liked. I think if I made it again I might run it lightly through a food processor, or start out with crushed or diced tomatoes (although I think this might interfere with the flavor). I've also been contemplating doing the same final steps to this recipe that the last one called for - adding oil and water and blending it all together.

The flavor was great though, and I froze the leftovers to try using on a pizza.

Alex Guarnaschelli's Yellow Tomato Sauce

From Special Sauce

I have been watching this new show on the Food Network called The Cooking Loft, and one day the theme was perfect pasta. Alex showed her "students" how to make this yellow tomato sauce which seemed pretty easy, and also yum, I never eat yellow tomatoes this way.

Of course, this time of year, yellow tomatoes aren't easy to find. And I didn't see the need to follow the recipe exactly since the whole point of this exercise is to come up with my own tomato sauce recipe.

One of the things I love about getting recipes online is that often people have made them and made changes to improve on them. This was no exception. I will copy the recipe over as it was written and indicate the changes I made as well.

Yellow Tomato Sauce

Ingredients

5 yellow beefsteak tomatoes, washed, core removed, a small "x" cut on the bottom of each
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
10 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced thin
3 large shallots, peeled and sliced
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Kosher salt
Freshly ground white pepper
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 pound dry pasta, such as penne or cavatappi
1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
1/2 cup water
25 to 30 basil leaves, washed and dried
Grated Parmesan, to taste

Directions

Bring a medium pot of water to a boil and salt the water generously. Prepare an ice bath for the tomatoes by filling a medium bowl with cold water and some ice cubes. Use a slotted spoon to plunge the tomatoes into the boiling water for about 1 to 2 minutes. The skin should show evidence of peeling away from the flesh of the tomatoes. Remove them from the water and plunge them into the ice bath. Allow the tomatoes to sit in the cool water so they stop cooking.

In a medium skillet, heat a tablespoon of the olive oil and add the garlic, shallots, and red pepper flakes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the oregano and sugar. Stir to blend. Allow to cook, over low heat, until the shallots and garlic become tender and translucent.

Meanwhile, remove the tomatoes from the ice bath, peel off and discard the skin from each. Place them on a flat surface, quarter them and scoop out the seeds and "jelly" from each piece. Gather all the seeds in a strainer and push through the liquid that naturally surrounds the seeds. Discard the seeds. Reserve the liquid and tomato flesh.

Add the tomato and liquid to the shallot mixture and stir in about 1 tablespoon of salt and 1 teaspoon ground pepper. Turn the heat down to medium and cook until the tomato flesh starts to lose shape, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the water and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. If there are still some hard pieces, add a little more water and cook for a few more minutes. Taste for seasoning.

In a large pot, bring 6 quarts of water to a rolling boil. Add a generous amount of salt. The pasta water should taste like sea water. Add the pasta to the pot and stir so none of the pieces stick to the bottom as they cook. Cook the pasta until "al dente", chewy but not hard or raw tasting, 8 to 10 minutes, and drain the pasta in a colander until the sauce is finished. Reserve a little of the pasta cooking liquid in case you need it later.

Put the tomato sauce in the blender and puree until smooth. Slowly add the vinegar through the top of the blender as the sauce is blending. Next, pour the remaining olive oil through the top in a slow, steady stream. Blend in another cup of water then remove the sauce from the blender and taste for seasoning.

Pour most of the sauce into a large skillet and add the pasta. Toss to blend with a wooden spoon. If the sauce is too thick, add some of the pasta liquid to thin it out. Taste for seasoning. Add the basil leaves and sprinkle with cheese, if desired.

*****

Several reviewers said that the vinegar was too much, particularly when substituting red tomatoes for the yellow. So I used half of what it called for. I used slightly less oil, probably about 2/3 cup, because that's how much I had added when the sauce sounded like it was coming together in the food processor.

I was worried by how thin it seemed, but when added back to the pasta in the pot (I used corkscrews which had lovely lines for grabbing onto sauce), added a handful of parmesan and some basil, it really seemed to become a better texture.

Overall I would say there is too much salt! If I hadn't seasoned the shallots and garlic so vigorously, it may have been fine, but adding 1 tbsp later on proved to be too much. I'd rather have to add more than start out feeling I had too much.

I used fresh basil from my plant in the backyard for this, woo hoo. I think if I made this recipe again I'd chiffonade it so more bites had the flavor of basil.

Nathaniel said he thought it seemed a little spicy, but I'm wondering if he was tasting the pepper or garlic. I am not sure 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes is going to give a lot of a kick, but 10 garlic cloves might! You can see the oil on the pasta, so I'm not convinced it could go with even less, maybe 1/2 cup.

So this recipe is far from perfect, but it is the first try.

Greetings!

Last year, I created tea blends for Nathaniel for Christmas. This year he requested his very own tomato sauce. The kind for pastas, pizza, etc. I thought it would be fun to blog the sauces that I've tried as I develop super sauce skills.

If you have any great sauce recipes that you want to share, I'd love to hear them.

I think after the holidays are over, this could turn into a blog about other sauces, but until December 25, this is all about tomato.