We have already presented a delicate tomato fond as the basis for exciting dishes here.
We have also explained how to make a very good tomato ketchup at home.
Of course, we can’t get past a tomato sauce either, this preparation is too important for an almost infinite number of dishes. However, there is also an infinite number of tomato sauces. So this is less a recipe and more an explanation of sauces with tomatoes at their centre. Of course, we also describe exactly how we like to prepare it.
Mother sauces of French cuisine
The 5 basic sauces of classic French cuisine are Béchamel, Velouté, Espagnole, Tomate and Hollandaise. Countless other sauces can be developed from these basic sauces, known as derivations in the culinary language.
The sauce Tomate contains a considerable number of ingredients, including bacon, butter, flour and meat stock. We will not be dealing with that today.
Italian tomato sauce
Almost everywhere in the world, tomato sauce is associated with Italian cuisine – and rightly so. However, it is interesting to reflect on how long this has actually been the case:
Tomatoes originate from South America and were cultivated by the Maya, Incas and Aztecs. Their name also comes from these civilisations (‘Xitomatl’ or ‘Tomatl’). They first arrived in Italy in the middle of the 16th century and were initially hardly considered edible there. It was not until the beginning of the 18th century that tomatoes became more popular and it was not until the 19th century that they gained their current importance. So this is a very, very recent development.
There are now not only an enormous number of varieties of tomato, but also quite a number of regional and local cuisines in which a tomato sauce is prepared a little differently.
As everyone knows, an enormous number of other sauces and dishes are made on the basis of these tomato sauces, such as sugo all’amatriciana and marinara, the tomato sauce found on Neapolitan pizza.
Ingredients
The basic form of an Italian tomato sauce (salsa or passata di pomodoro) may contain onion, garlic, carrot and/or celery. In addition to salt and pepper, chilli pepper, bay leaf, oregano, thyme and, of course, basil are common spices and herbs. Olive oil will probably always be included, but capers, anchovies, olives and Parmesan rind are also used.
This is all fine and everyone should always prepare the type of tomato sauce that they like best (at the time) – or perhaps that is particularly suitable for a particular season.
Versatility and time
As tomato sauce is also a basic sauce in Italian cuisine from which you can develop derivatives, its simplest form should not be overloaded with too many flavours other than tomato. If you just want to make a quick tomato sauce, then of course this does not apply. However, if you want to create a basic sauce for versatility in your own kitchen, then a purist approach is better.
As we emphasise again and again, time plays a very important role in the art of cooking. The amount of time applied – in either direction – changes the texture and flavour of any product. And more time hardly ever means more working time, which is another thing to bear in mind.
The internet is of course not only full of ‘the best tomato sauce in the world’, but above all of sauces that are prepared as quickly as pasta cooks, if not in 5 minutes. That’s not our subject.
Basic sauce, the way we like it
The season for the best, ripe tomatoes is short. What you can buy the rest of the year comes from greenhouses and does not have the flavour of the best tomatoes. Fresh tomatoes are therefore only suitable for a perfect sauce for a short period of the year.
Tinned or bottled tomatoes are therefore usually the better product. Depending on the season, they can be combined with fresh tomatoes.
Tinned tomatoes are first placed in a bowl and crushed, which is best done with your hands.
Fresh tomatoes are halved or quartered, depending on their size, with the stems removed.
We like to use onions, but they can also be left out. If you use them, either dice them very finely or grate them. We think garlic is essential, and this is also finely chopped or grated.
In a large, heavy pan, we heat plenty of the best olive oil – you should not be sparing with this here – on a medium heat and sweat the onions first, stirring occasionally, without letting them brown. They should become very soft, sweet and at best delicately golden. This takes about 10 – 15 minutes, depending on the quantity. Bay leaves and thyme sprigs go in, then the garlic is also added and sautéed for 3 minutes while stirring.
Fresh tomatoes are now added and the heat is increased to medium-high.
The tomatoes simmer gently for a long time until they collapse and lose their natural acidity. They must be stirred from time to time. This takes at least 20 minutes, even with smaller quantities. It is best to taste whether there is still acidity in the tomatoes. Only when this is no longer at the forefront of the flavour has this step been completed.
The oven is preheated to 150 degrees Celsius without fan.
The preserved tomatoes are added to the pan and stirred in well. Now we season for the first time with salt and a little ground black pepper and add a whole bunch of basil, leaves and stems, without chopping. We increase the heat again and bring everything to a gentle boil.
The sauce is now cooked to the end in the oven, always with the lid on. It should gain flavour and combine, but not reduce.
The pan is therefore covered and the sauce is placed in the oven for a good hour.
After that, all the flavours will have blended perfectly.
We remove the basil, bay leaves and thyme stalks. Then we pass the sauce through a food mill, a mechanical and very inexpensive strainer that ensures just the right texture and which we recommend for every household, even if it has gone out of fashion.
If you don’t have one of these, you can use a ladle to press the sauce through a pointed sieve. If you like to prepare sauces yourself, we always recommend buying a sieve like this.
If you don’t have this either, you can partially puree the sauce with a hand blender, but the result will not be the same. Pureeing it completely will result in a lack of texture.
Finally, the sauce is seasoned with salt and pepper until the result is harmonious. We want to bring out and support the full flavour of the tomatoes, but by no means mask it.
This tomato sauce is now the ideal base for many, many dishes. We portion it into sachets, which we freeze flat for space-saving storage. The contents can be used to prepare any tomato-based sauce quickly and deliciously. As always, it tastes better, is healthier and cheaper than ready-made products.
Ingredients (for 12 portions of basic sauce):
1.2 kg tinned (or bottled) tomatoes – preferably San Marzano
1.2 kg fresh tomatoes with as much flavour as possible
Out of season, it is better to use more tinned and less fresh produce!
2 onions
3 cloves of garlic
2 bay leaves
5 sprigs of thyme
1 bunch of basil
Salt and black pepper to taste
