Spice pattern: Mediterranean
This is a ‘genuine’ Italian tomato sauce recipe. I learned it from ‘genuine’ Italian relatives while
growing up in New York City. The ‘secret’ to a thick and crumbly textured tomato sauce is to fry the tomato paste with the garlic and oil until it crumbles and darkens, almost until it burns. For a cooking wine I use a hearty inexpensive red wine like burgundy. The tomato puree makes a very thick and heavy sauce, the diced tomatoes a little less so.
To do this one right, the sauce really needs to cook all day or overnight. Once the frying step is finished, the rest of the ingredients can be combined in a slow cooker. It gets better with time.
- 4 tbsp olive oil (or more)
- 1-2 whole dried red chilis (optional)
- or 1-2 tsp dried guajillo chili pieces
- 3-4 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 small (6 oz) can tomato paste
- 1 lg can (28 oz) tomato puree or diced tomatoes
- ½ c (or more) hearty burgundy or similar red wine
- or 1 tbsp brown sugar (if you can’t deal with the wine)
- 1 tsp basil
- 1 tsp oregano
- ½ tsp mint (optional)
- 1 stick kombu or kelp (optional)
- 1-2 bay leaves
- 1/2 tsp salt or to taste
- ½ tsp black pepper
Heat the oil over a low flame, and fry the red chilis and garlic until the garlic just starts to brown. Add the tomato paste, stir and fry, stirring occasionally, until the paste is crumbly and browning and appears coated with the oil. Don’t rush this step - you can fry the paste to where it starts to burn a little bit. When you stir you may need to scrape the paste off the bottom of the pan where it sticks. Add the rest of the ingredients, stir, put on a very low flame or slow cooker, and just let it cook covered, stirring occasionally (less often with a slow cooker) for as long as you can, 4-6
hours minimum. The sauce tastes as good or better reheated the second day. Variation: Add extra vegetables - onions, bell peppers or anaheimpeppers, mushrooms
More Information- Vegetarian Thanksgiving
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