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21 Oct, 2009 10:16pm

Homemade Tomato Sauce

Spaghetti and meat sauce is one of those awesome dishes that the United States has taken and made its own. It has become a near universal soul food across the country because it’s quick, easy, delicious, and infinitely personalize-able.

But I know sooo many people who skip the best part, making homemade sauce, for a can or jar of something off the shelf. Such a shame.

Here’s my recipe for a ridiculously-easy-and-tasty tomato sauce. It makes a giant batch, perfect for a Saturday or Sunday meal when you have a little more time to prepare it. You can then freeze the leftovers and they’ll nicely keep in your freezer for a couple months. (The round 2-cup Twist and Lock containers from Ziploc are perfect for this. Not a paid advertisement, I’m just super-happy with them.)

Ingredients

  • 2 yellow onions, diced
  • 8 cloves garlic, minced (basically a whole head, yes, seriously)
  • 2 1/2 lbs tomatoes (see note, below; I prefer Roma/plum, but whatever. Feel free to use whatever comes from your garden or friends in late summer, or a couple cans of whole tomatoes in late winter. [or maybe even crushed tomatoes in a pinch, but store-bought tomato sauce or diced tomatoes are right out.] )
  • 1 Tbsp fresh basil, finely chopped
  • Kosher salt & fresh ground pepper, to taste

Note: The tomatoes should be peeled, seed, and then rough diced.

To peel a tomato, submerge it in boiling water for 5-10 seconds, just until it’s about to split. The skin should then separate easily from the meat. Cut the skinned tomato in half and then scoop out and toss the guts. Finally, dice the meat. I prefer them a little rough and rustic. This can be messy, so invite your local preschooler to do the seeding part with their bare hands. Then they can then mash the tomatoes and you won’t have to try dicing soggy tomatoes.

Directions

  1. Heat about 3 Tbsp olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions and saute for about 5 minutes, until they are glistening. Add the garlic and saute until your house smells like garlic, about a minute or two.
  2. Add the tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer for about 25 minutes.
  3. Add the basil and simmer for another 5 minutes. Taste, then season with salt and pepper.

How frakin’ easy is that? Very, I say.

This is the secret ingredient that makes my “World Famous Chili” world famous, along with my ingredient that is actually secret.

Now, you may be thinking “I thought he was talking about spaghetti and meat sauce. Where’s the meat?” Asked, and answered:

Meat Sauce Ingredients

  • 16 oz (2 Cups) of the above tomato sauce
  • 1 lb hamburger (or any other ground meat, like sausage or venison)
  • 1/2 yellow onion, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 1 tsp dried basil
  • Optional: 1 Tbsp of fresh oregano and/or basil and/or parsley, rather finely chopped. Leave it kinda rough cut so your friends are impressed you used fresh herbs on them.

Meat Sauce Directions

  1. Heat about 1 Tbsp olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and saute for about 2-3 minutes, until they are glistening. Add the garlic and saute until your house smells like garlic, about thirty second to a minute.
  2. Add the hamburger and dried herbs. Saute until browned, five minutes or thereabouts.
  3. Dump in the tomato sauce. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and let it ride until the pasta is ready. (If the tomato sauce was frozen, put it in the microwave on high for a couple minutes before dumping.)
  4. Start the pasta water to boil (1.5 quarts/liters of water with a healthy couple pinches of kosher salt for a lb of spaghetti should do it).
  5. To put this over the top, when the pasta is just about done add the fresh herbs to the meat sauce, reserving a couple pinches. Turn the heat to the meat sauce off. Drain the pasta, dump it in a beautiful bowl, and pour the meat sauce over it. Scatter the reserved herbs over the top as garnish.

This recipe scales linearly, so double or halve to your pleasure. Warning: this is awesome. If you serve this with a good wine, prepare to have friends trying to convince you to compete in a reality TV chef competition. (Don’t do it. You will lose and leave the show without whatever dignity you began with.)

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