{"id":6862,"date":"2019-06-13T11:20:49","date_gmt":"2019-06-13T17:20:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/villasentieri.com\/?post_type=recipe&p=6862"},"modified":"2026-09-02T10:58:39","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T17:58:39","slug":"basic-tomato-sauce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/villasentieri.com\/index.php\/2019\/06\/13\/basic-tomato-sauce\/","title":{"rendered":"Basic Tomato Sauce"},"content":{"rendered":"

June 13, 2019<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Basic Tomato Sauce isn\u2019t sexy or exciting.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a foundational ingredient that makes cooking a lot of other dishes much easier than they would otherwise be but, honestly, until a few months ago I never bothered to make it to have on hand.<\/p>\n

That was a mistake!<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t mean that I didn\u2019t have tomato sauces of various types in my freezer.\u00a0 I almost always do but they\u2019re fully prepared special-purpose sauces like my mother\u2019s long-simmered Southern Italian Ragu or my mother-in-law\u2019s Salsa Friulana<\/a>.\u00a0 If I needed a basic tomato sauce as the starting point for another sauce, I just did it in the moment.<\/p>\n

That all changed as part of attending the Master of Italian Cuisine course at the Italian Culinary Institute<\/a> (ICI).\u00a0 We made a basic tomato sauce (dubbed Simple Tomato Sauce by Chef John<\/a>) by the gallons\u2026ok, by the liters!<\/p>\n

It keeps well.\u00a0 It freezes beautifully.\u00a0 It can be used in its own right as a sauce for pasta or meat or fish.\u00a0 Having it on hand allows you to whip up really tasty pasta sauces much more quickly.\u00a0 Give my recipe for Lupara<\/a> a look, for example.<\/p>\n

Join our mailing list<\/a> and you\u2019ll never miss a recipe again!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Having foundational ingredients on hand has become more important since I returned from Italy.\u00a0 In an effort to fully integrate what I learned, and to expand my knowledge even further, I\u2019ve been cooking dinner every night that we\u2019re not otherwise engaged.<\/p>\n

As an extension, this month we started something new as a way to catalyze learning more about Italian Regional Cuisine.\u00a0 We randomly select a Region of Italy by pulling a slip of paper out of an antique coffee jar.\u00a0 Most of the meals for the month need to be from that Region.\u00a0 This month\u2019s Region is Piemonte.\u00a0 July\u2019s Region is Molise.<\/p>\n

\"\"
An antique coffee jar from my hometown of Johnstown, PA filled with slips of paper each containing the name of a Region of Italy.<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I start by researching the foods of the region.\u00a0 Waverley Root\u2019s The Food of Italy<\/strong> is a big help but so are the introductions to many Italian regional cookbooks that I own.\u00a0 Once I have a grasp of the traditional raw ingredients and the classic preparations of the region, I start to curate a list of dishes I want to make.\u00a0 I go through my Italian regional cookbooks as well as Italian-language food websites to find multiple renditions of the dish then decide on how I will make it.<\/p>\n

The dishes that I plan to make go on my calendar days in advance and get readjusted based on new ideas or ingredients from the market.\u00a0 Sometimes a dish requires purchasing hard-to-find ingredients, like anchovies cured in salt (of which there is an 800 gram tin sitting in my kitchen right now) or amarena cherries preserved in syrup (1000 gram tin plus a smaller jar from a different company).<\/p>\n

The Piemontese have a knack for putting anchovies into almost everything except dessert.\u00a0 And if it doesn\u2019t have anchovies, the dish probably has a bottle of Barolo, like the braised beef that I made a few days ago.<\/p>\n

After cooking my way through Molise in July, I\u2019ll be going to Italy for August and September.\u00a0 In August I\u2019ll be learning traditional Tuscan dishes from Great Aunt Fidalma.\u00a0 September will find me be back at ICI for an guided independent study on food preservation.\u00a0 I\u2019ll resume cooking my way through the Regions of Italy in October.<\/p>\n

Follow us on your social media platform of choice<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\"\"<\/a> \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Now that I\u2019ve been convinced of the benefit of keeping foundational ingredients on hand, I\u2019m upping my game.\u00a0 In addition to Basic Tomato Sauce I\u2019ve started keeping infused oils.\u00a0 Currently, in squeeze bottles next to my stove, I have garlic oil and rosemary oil.\u00a0 Sometimes I use these to provide a little extra squirt of flavor on a finished dish.\u00a0 Sometimes I use them as I start saut\u00e9ing ingredients.\u00a0 At this moment, I also have some mint oil on hand that I made to drizzle on a risotto with fresh peas.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Infused oils at the ready next to my stove.<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I am eagerly anticipating our fall harvest of hot peppers so that I can make peperoncino oil, which is sometimes called Olio Santo<\/em> (Holy Oil) in Calabria.\u00a0 Does that give you an inkling of the significance of hot peppers in the cooking of Calabria?<\/p>\n

Although Olio Santo can be used within a few days of being made, it is better to let it age for a year.\u00a0 That means I\u2019ll have to make an extra-large batch in the fall so that I have a fully aged stash to hold me until the oil from the 2020 harvest of hot peppers is ready in 2021!<\/p>\n

I modified the ICI recipe for Simple Tomato Sauce just a bit to make it my own.\u00a0 I’ve changed the name to Basic Tomato Sauce.\u00a0 That\u2019s the version I\u2019ve posted here.

<\/div>
\n
\n
\n
\"\"<\/div>\n <\/div>\n
\n
\n \n <\/div>\n

Basic Tomato Sauce<\/h2>\n
<\/div>\n \n
<\/div>\n
This makes enough sauce for about 1 kilogram (2-plus pounds of pasta). Most often this sauce is used as the base for other sauces. You can make it in larger quantities and freeze it for future use. While I prefer to pass the tomatoes through a food mill to remove the seeds and the occasional hard bit of tomato, you can skip this step. Just add the tomatoes to the saut\u00e9ed vegetables, mashing them with a potato masher, and proceed as written. Since this sauce cooks quickly it is especially important that the vegetables be very finely diced.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n Print Recipe<\/a>\n Pin Recipe<\/a>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
Prep Time <\/span>15 minutes<\/span><\/span> mins<\/span><\/span><\/div>
Cook Time <\/span>30 minutes<\/span><\/span> mins<\/span><\/span><\/div>
Total Time <\/span>1 hour<\/span><\/span> hr<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Servings: <\/span>1<\/span> quart (plus a bit more)<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/g>\n\n\n\n<\/clipPath>\n<\/defs>\n<\/svg>\n<\/span> Ingredients<\/a>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/g>\n\n\n\n<\/clipPath>\n<\/defs>\n<\/svg>\n<\/span> Method<\/a>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span> Notes<\/a><\/div>\n
\n
\n

Ingredients
<\/div>