alton brown tomato sauce recipe

I just dip into boiling water, remove the skin and dump them into a pot, as they simmer, I sautee onion, garlic and green pepper in a big skillet with olive oil....and add to the simmering tomatoes. If I want meat I brown that and add to the pot....either hamburger, ground pork, sausage, or meatballs. Season with oregano, and basil....to taste and a very generous helping of red wine. Home grown tomatoes are sweet and need a dry red wine to counteract that.
If I have a parmesan cheese rind, I add that.
Simmer uncovered for a long time....stirring often so it doesn't stick. It needs to be thick enough to stick to the pasta....

I prefer a chunky marinara style sauce. I saute in olive oil a medium/large chopped onion, 1 or 2 finely chopped carrots & 2-3 stalks celery, also finely chopped, then 3-4 cloves minced or crushed fresh garlic, then add diced, then a couple of quarts coarsely chopped, tomatoes, skin & all. After that I add bay leaf, parsley, salt & pepper & simmer for maybe 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally. If I have it, I like to add some tomato paste to thicken & intensify the flavor.

When I have good fresh tomatoes, I also prefer a chunky marinara-type sauce.... especially with lots of fresh sweet basil! Otherwise, I like to roast the tomatoes w/ a little olive oil and salt and toss them into freezer bags. They taste so good in the middle of winter!!!

It depends on if you want a "fresh" tomato sauce, which tastes like fresh tomatoes, or if you want a concentrated, stewed kind of sauce. For the latter, I cook down most of the tomatoes first, seeds, skins and all, and let it reduce, then mill or blend to make a lovely, dense puree. From there, proceed as usual if starting with a puree. I have made my own tomato paste, but that's really not worth it unless you're just drowning in tomatoes. If you can dehydrate them in the sun, or maybe a dehydrator, tomato paste becomes easier.

Dozens of basic harvest tomato sauce recipes exist. We all have our basic one. Those that make sauce every year. I'm cleaning up the garden this weekend expecting a frost soon.

We will stop at a local farm stand and buy a big box of sauce toms to make our basic bulk sauce this week...25cents a lb this time of year.

I just call it our '25lb sauce'. Similar to the Alton sauce posted above.

These are farm stand Jersey Beefsteaks. With a pot of simmering water 4-5 toms at a time are quickly nicked with a small slice piercing with a sharp paring knife. An inch is enough. Then dropped into the water. 30 seconds-one minute we take them out, large slotted spoon, into a large waiting bowl...skins slide right off. More toms into the water...as the batches cool off a bit and skinned, i crush them with my hand, or chop up a bit, and into a stock pot to start the cooking process.

At the same time i prep a parchment lined sheet pan or two and add quartered skinned toms, a full head of peeled garlic cloves, a big onion in 1-2inch chunks, a couple carrots sliced in rounds, about 1/2 inch slices. One or two habaneros or any pepper, (this year i have Hatch from NewMexico. Drizzle of olive oil. Roast in the oven for 2 hours on lowish heat...225-250. I add the roasted toms to the simmering sauce toms for another hour or until it looks the way i like it...not too thick or too thin.

Let it cool down, (it will get a bit thicker as it cools and more moisture evaporates). I freeze in pint containers. Some as is. About a half of the pot i further grind in the Cuisinart and some of it goes into the blender for a smoother sauce.

I'm set for the winter to pull out sauce for various dishes like chili, pasta sauces, tomato/veggie juice by adding celery carrot cucumber juice to the pureed toms...virginMary or BloodyMary.

I already have a couple dozen bags of cherry toms frozen whole and heirlooms from the garden sliced and frozen. Those i don't bother skinning.

I have never seeded or put through a mill type thing. The frozen slices of heirlooms will become salsa all winter that i add home smoked pepper and tomatillos frozen in small packages.. Smoking the last batch tomorrow.

I'm taking it all in. Thank you for your directions

:)

This is how I make thick tomato sauce without adding thickening stuff: No need for special tomatoes.

1. Boiling water to peel skin.

2. Steam peeled tomatoes.

3. You will find very clear tomato water coming out from tomatoes. Drain and save the tomato water for cooking other dishes. Do this a few times.

4. By this time, the solids in tomatoes have been concentrated. Use a sieve and a silicone spatula to squeeze all the seeds out. Not a very difficult task.

5. You will get very thick tomato sauce ready for you to add seasonings and cook according to your recipe.

dcarch