The Best Tomato Sauce for Pasta

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Basic tomato sauce really couldn't be easier, especially if you use canned tomatoes. While I am normally a big fan of using fresh ingredients whenever possible, the "fresh" tomatoes you can find in the grocery store year round have been bred to be sturdy, not tasty. On the other hand, high quality canned tomatoes are canned at the peak of freshness when they taste their best. If you have fresh tomatoes that taste like tomatoes, by all means use them. Otherwise, stick with canned.

Like I said, there really is no set recipe and no real set proportions. Here's a list of what you'll need and some loose guidelines for amounts. Optional ingredients are in parentheses:

olive oil-2-4 TBSP

chopped onion--1 medium

minced garlic--1-2 cloves

tomato paste--1-2 TBSP

honey, sugar or Agasweet--1-2 teaspoons

(sun-dried tomatoes)--2-4 TBSP, chopped or minced

kosher salt and black pepper--to taste

(red pepper flake)--to taste

dried Italian seasoning--1-1 1/2 teaspoons (use fresh herbs if you have them--rosemary, thyme and oregano are nice)

wine, broth or stock--1/2-1 cup

canned tomatoes: whole/diced/pureed--2 large cans

(a little more olive oil)--just a drizzle

What to Do

1. Heat a heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat
   
2. Put the olive oil in the pan and wait for it to shimmer
   
3. Add the chopped onion, minced garlic, salt and pepper
   
4. Let sizzle until onion is translucent
   
5. Add red pepper flake, Italian seasoning, tomato paste and honey/sugar/Agasweet. Before adding the dried herbs, rub them firmly to release their essential oils.
   
6. Stir and cook for a minute or two
   
7. Add the sun-dried tomatoes
   
8. Add the wine/stock/broth--even water, and reduce by half
   
9. Add the tomatoes and heat through
   
10. Taste; add more salt/pepper if necessary
    
11. Let simmer for at least 15 minutes.
    
12. Add a splash of Extra Virgin Olive Oil and stir in
    

You can adjust the texture of the sauce by deciding what form of canned tomato you use. You can also choose to put your sauce through a food mill or use a stick blender to make the texture finer. It's your sauce, and it's entirely up to you.

Please buy good equipment. You don't have to spend a billion dollars, but a heavy-bottomed saute pan will serve you well for many years. This Cuisinart model costs less than $60.00 through Amazon.com!

The Cuisinart Chef's Classic Stainless 5-1/2-Quart Saute Pan is a perfect pan for making tomato or meat sauce. The all-metal construction allows you to put it in the oven, too, for braising or stewing. The wide cooking surface lets your sauce reduce fairly quickly, helping to concentrate the flavors in your food.

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It's a pretty easy thing to turn your tomato sauce into a meat sauce. I promise. Use the basic recipe up there and make these modifications:

Additions for a lovely meat sauce

1-2 pounds of ground beef/Italian sausage/ground pork/minced lamb/ground turkey--any combination that you like

carrot, cut in small dice

celery, cut into thin slices

Other spices complementary to the meat you have chosen

What to Do
Follow the instructions for basic tomato sauce with these modifications:

1. Add carrot and celery along with the onions and garlic
   
2. Add the meat once the vegetables are translucent. Depending on how fatty the your meat is, you might want to skim off some of the fat after the meat has browned
   
3. continue adding ingredients--double the amount of wine/broth/stock
   
4. add complementary dried herbs/spices with the pepper flake and any fresh herbs towards the end of cooking
   
5. Meat sauce is perfectly happy to gently simmer for 2-3 hours, just don't let it reduce too much so it doesn't burn.

Again, you can adjust the texture of your sauce by controlling how much you break up your tomatoes and/or meat. Feel free to use a stick blender to homogenize the sauce a bit--just don't blend it smooth. Meat sauce should be a little chunky.

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Variations on the Theme

Here is a list of other yummy ingredients that you can add to your sauce to make it unique and to vary the flavor. Play with your food!

Vegetables

bell pepper
marinated red pepper
fennel
spinach
summer squash/zucchini
fresh, flavorful tomatoes
eggplant--salted, drained and rinsed
broccoli
cauliflower
chard
kale
etc.

Herbs/Spices

small pinch of cinnamon (nice with lamb)
a few gratings of fresh nutmeg (nice with spinach)
toasted pine nuts
small pinch of allspice or clove
cumin
mint
bay leaf
star anise
lemon zest
paprika

For Extra Meaty Flavor
bacon--add with the onions
pancetta--ditto
organ meat--will make the sauce very rich and delightful

I am sure there are others. If you have any vegetables or spices that you like to use in your tomato sauce, please leave them in the comments, and I will add them to this list.

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You've got your beautiful sauce. Now what? You will probably just cook some noodles, drain them, put some on a plate and ladle some sauce on top. I beg you to stop this! Your sauce isn't finished, yet. With just a couple of extra steps and maybe 5 extra minutes, you'll have a rich and flavorful pasta dish with every noodle smothered in sauce. Sound good? Read on...

Here is What You'll Need

extra virgin olive oil

1-2 TBSP unsalted butter
or
a splash or two of heavy cream

some parmesan cheese--even the canned is okay for this. If you have fresh, grate some and use that

depending on how much pasta you're cooking, 1/4-1/2 cup pasta cooking water

Here's What You Do

1. cook pasta in well-salted water (never add oil) until it is al dente. It should still be a little firm in the middle--slightly more-so than you want it to be when it's done
   
2. before draining the pasta, dip out some of the cooking water and reserve
   
3. drain the pasta--not thoroughly. You don't have to shake the colander forever
   
4. dump the pasta back in the pan
   
5. over high heat add the reserved pasta water, as much of your sauce as you like, a drizzle of olive oil and the butter or cream.
   
6. Stir and stir--there will be a lot of boiling as the pasta water reduces.
   
7. Once the sauce is a nice consistency, grate in a little parmesan cheese and stir that in well.
   
8. remove from heat and plate
   
9. finish with a light grating of cheese, a sprinkle of minced/chiffonade fresh herbs and a grind or two of black pepper
   

Why do all of this?
--Adding the pasta water and letting it reduce introduces some more starch to the sauce, lending a bit of thickening and a silky mouth feel.
--Stirring in oil, butter and/or cream introduces a bit of fat into a more-or-less water-based sauce. This creates an emulsion and adds to the silky mouth feel.
--Finishing the pasta in the sauce allows each noodle to absorb the flavor of the sauce as it finishes cooking.

If you've never done this before, do try it. Even starting with jarred sauce, your finished dish can taste extra-special. You will never again dump sauce onto naked pasta!

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For Lasagna

--Mix ricotta cheese with 1 egg, salt, pepper, some grated Parmesan or Romano cheese, a little nutmeg and some minced herbs
--Layer your sauce, lasagna noodles, ricotta mixture and maybe some mozzarella
--Continue layering, ending with the sauce. Top with some grated Parmesan and bake until bubbly

For Tomato Soup

--Puree the basic tomato sauce so it is completely smooth.
--Thin to a soup consistency with half and half and/or chicken stock/broth
--serve with a dollop of sour cream or a drizzle of olive oil and a piece of toasted Italian bread

For Spaghetti and Meatballs

--Use the basic tomato sauce and simmer meatballs in it until they are cooked. For more depth of flavor, brown the meatballs before simmering.
--For meatballs, use any combination of ground meat, an egg, some seasoned bread crumbs, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, maybe a splash of vinegar and some grated parmesan cheese. Mix well and roll into balls.

Other Ideas
--Use tomato sauce as a braising liquid for any tough meat
--Stuff pasta shells with a ricotta mixture. Top with tomato sauce or meat sauce and some cheese and bake until bubbly
--Add some tomato sauce to a medley of sauteed vegetables for a quick Ratatouille
--Layer lamb-based meat sauce with fried eggplant and a simple bechamel sauce for Moussaka

Please, feel free to add to the list by leaving a comment!

The Classico Pasta Sauce Cookbook: Tempting Home Cooked Meals Using Authentic Italian Pasta Sauces will give you the guidance you need if you're still not ready to play fast-and-loose without a recipe! Read this book, get a feel for the flavor profiles presented, and then you'll be that much more confident in your ability to make a killer pasta sauce!