Homemade Italian Tomato Sauce Recipe
January 5, 2015
I love spaghetti, and all sorts of italian meals; Instead of buying a store-bought bottle of boring tomato sauce, I started making my own. This recipe is very easy to make, and the results are far better tasting, it's cheaper than store-bought jars, and a perfect base for a whole host of meals. I often double this recipe to make tons of sauce - it's infinitely useful.
An important first step to note when making this sauce is to bring the olive oil up to temperature very slowly with the garlic, herbs, and spices, and cook for about five minutes to brown the garlic. This slow heat-up process allows the oil to be infused with the seasonings providing a really delicious base to your sauce.
The above picture has poorly taken mobile photos of my last batch. Top left is the oil and herbs warming, then I added peppers and onions and fried them a bit (not in this recipe, feel free to add meat or other veggies to thicken your sauce). I added canned crushed tomatoes (bottom left) and let it simmer for an hour and a half (bottom right).
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil
- Pinch of red pepper flakes
- 4 crushed garlic cloves
- 3/4 cup chopped onion (optional)
- 1 teaspoon fresh chopped oregano, divided, or 1/2 teaspoon dried
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil, divided, or 1/2 tablespoon dried
- 1 teaspoon fresh chopped mint, divided
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 28-ounce cans of whole tomatoes or two quarts of freshly canned garden tomatoes
- 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesano Reggiano cheese
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Instructions
- In a large heavy bottomed pot with a lid, on a burner with no flame, pour in olive oil and add red pepper flakes, garlic, onion, most of the oregano, basil and mint (save a little bit of each for the end), sugar salt and pepper. Turn on the burner and slowly bring up to hot. When the onions and garlic start to cook, stir and heat for five minutes.
- Remove the pot from the burner and place a heat diffuser over the burner. Place the pot over the heat diffuser and add the tomatoes. Turn burner to medium high and stir until they start to boil. Then reduce to simmer, partially cover and simmer 90 minutes.
- After 90 minutes, remove from heat and add the reserved herbs and Parmesan cheese. Add the butter to round out the flavors. Stir again and serve and/or bottle for freezer or fridge.
I like to bottle up this sauce into pint glasses, as they can put in the freezer for long-term storage, and can be heated right in the microwave. This sauce goes well with just about any pasta you might have in your cupboard. The sauce ages very well, and will taste even better the next time you reheat it. It gives the flavors a chance to blend and mellow out.