The Easiest Tomato Sauce for Pasta

Cover of Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

This next entry in my favorite recipes comes from Marcella Hazan‘s excellent cookbook, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. If you love Italian food, this is the only Italian cookbook you need, in my opinion. I have made many of the pasta sauces, and they were all great. Unfortunately, I’ve cut way back on the pasta I’m eating these days.

My husband declared this tomato sauce with onion and butter to be one of the best pasta sauces he’d ever tasted. It is superbly simple to make, even easier than my go-to tomato sauce. This sauce has a light, subtle flavor that tastes best on hearty but bland filled pastas, like potato gnocchi and cheese ravioli, but is also very good on spaghetti.

I suggest using pureed tomatoes, but you can also use canned whole tomatoes and crush them with the back of a spoon while the sauce is cooking. This will result in a “chunkier” tomato sauce, though. Bionaturae is my favorite brand of bottled strained tomatoes.

Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter

• 1 bottle strained tomatoes(24 oz.) or 2 cups fresh tomatoes, pureed
• 5 tbsp. butter
• 1 med. onion, peeled and cut in half
• Salt
• 1½ pounds pasta
• Parmesan cheese

Put the tomato sauce, butter, onion and salt in a saucepan. Cook, uncovered, at a slow but steady simmer for 45 minutes, stirring from time to time. Discard the onion before tossing with the pasta. Leftover sauce may be frozen without the onion.

 

Fresh Tomato Sauce for Pasta

Last night, I made an absolutely delicious pasta sauce using fresh roma tomatoes from my garden. Like all quick tomato sauces, this one is just a variant of my super simple tomato sauce recipe, but it was so good that I wanted to give it its own entry.

This sauce celebrates the bright, sweet flavor of summer tomatoes at their peak. The tomatoes are cooked down until they thicken and practically dissolve. Adding a healthy amount of garlic and some bacon cuts the sweetness and builds richness. Finish with a handful of basil for that last summery touch.

Fresh Tomato Sauce for Pasta

Yields: 2 servings
Time to make: ~30 minutes

• 2-3 tbsp. olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 slice bacon, fried and crumbled
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 lb. roma tomatoes, chopped
• handful basil leaves, sliced
• grated Parmesan
• ½ lb. penne or other cut pasta

Start heating a pot of salted water for the pasta. Heat the oil and garlic over medium until the garlic just starts to color. Raise the heat to medium-high. Add the crumbled bacon and tomatoes, and season with salt and pepper. Let cook, stirring often, until the tomatoes start to break down and thicken. Lower the heat if the tomatoes are cooking too quickly.

When the water boils, cook the pasta. By this time, the sauce should be very thick. If the mixture gets too thick, add a spoonful of pasta cooking water to loosen it up some. When the pasta is ready, drain and mix it with the sauce. Top with the basil and Parmesan to serve.

Eggs Baked in Tomato Sauce with Green Beans

Eggs baked in tomato sauce with green beans is exactly what it says. Oh yeah, there is some cheese in there too. This is from a recipe I got out of The Good Egg. My husband thought it was good; I thought it was weird but certainly edible. Granted, I didn’t follow the recipe exactly, and I employed it mostly to use up odds and ends from the fridge, but it was still weird. Probably will not make again.

How to Make Eggplant Parmesan

Now is the time for eggplant. If there is none in your garden, surely there is plenty at the farmers market. A lot of people don’t like eggplant, but I think that’s mainly because of how it’s cooked. Eggplant is the sponge of the vegetable world; when fried, it can absorb a lot of grease and turn into an unappetizing brownish mush. But when cooked in other ways, such as broiled or grilled, eggplant is hearty and flavorful.

Eggplant parmesan is one of the dishes many people think of when they think of eggplant. Unfortunately, the eggplant is usually smothered beneath breading, heavy tomato sauce and cheese — not the epitome of a light summer dish. This version of eggplant parmesan, which I made the other night to raves, is lighter, tastier and easier than the traditional version, and it takes advantage of the garden goodness that’s so abundant right now.

Here are the differences between this recipe and the traditional dish:

• The eggplant is broiled, not fried, and it is not coated with breading.
• The tomato sauce is a quick one, preferably made with fresh tomatoes.
• Keep a light hand with the cheese.

Eggplant Parmesan

Time to make: 45 minutes to 1 hour
Yields: about 4 servings

• 1 lg. eggplant
• olive oil for drizzling
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup or more tomato sauce, preferably made with fresh roma tomatoes (recipe)
• handful of fresh basil leaves, shredded
• 4 oz. whole-milk fresh mozzarella
• 4 oz. grated Parmesan

First prepare the tomato sauce. Amounts are approximate as I didn’t measure how much I used, but if you have the tomatoes, make extra and freeze the rest or use it for pasta.

While the sauce is cooking, preheat the broiler. Slice the eggplant into half-inch rounds. There is no need to peel or salt the eggplant, unless you suspect it may be particularly bitter. Arrange the eggplant slices on a baking sheet covered with aluminum foil. Drizzle lightly on both sides with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Broil until tender, 8-10 minutes, turning once during cooking time. Set aside.

Turn the oven heat down to 425 degrees. In a casserole dish, spoon a thin layer of sauce. Add the eggplant slices in a single layer. Top with more sauce and scatter the basil over. Slice the mozzarella thinly. Layer the mozzarella on top, also in a single layer. Scatter over the Parmesan cheese.

Bake until bubbly, 20-30 minutes. Delicious served with a side of pasta.

Notes: You could easily turn this into chicken parmesan. Just cook the chicken as instructed here and substitute it for the eggplant. Thickly sliced, broiled zucchini or portobello mushrooms would also make a good substitution or addition to this dish.

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Turkey Loaf with Roasted Tomato Sauce

My husband specially requested that I make a meatloaf, which I have never made before. I actually didn’t think I liked meatloaf all that much, having associated it with dried-out, ketchup-laden school cafeteria food. But I had some ground turkey to use up, and in the spirit of trying new things, I attempted it.

I combined two different recipes to get what I was looking for: something that would have a lot of substance, not be too dry (I hoped) and with an interesting sauce. The results — Turkey Loaf with Roasted Tomato Sauce — were fantastic. We both went back for seconds (which I later regretted, because there were no leftovers). This one is definitely a keeper.

Full Disclosure: My turkey loaf was only about half this size, but I didn’t write down the measurements of the ingredients I used, so I referenced the original recipes when listing amounts here. I think you should use amounts as a guide, not as gospel. For instance, if the loaf is looking too dry, try increasing the stock a bit or add another egg white.

Roasted Tomato Sauce

Time to make: ~1 hour

What you need:

• 1 bell pepper, halved
• 4 plum tomatoes, halved
• 1 whole head garlic, top sliced off and wrapped in foil
• 1 tsp. olive oil
• 1½ tsp. lemon juice
• ½ tsp. balsamic vinegar

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
2. On a foil-lined pan, roast the pepper, tomatoes and garlic until the pepper and tomatoes are slightly charred, about 35 minutes
3. Let the pepper steam in a paper bag for 10 minutes or so
4. Remove as much of the skin from the pepper as possible
5. Puree the roasted vegetables with the remaining ingredients

Notes: Incidentally, this is a great multi-use sauce that would also work on pasta or even as a dip. Leftovers were abundant.

Turkey Loaf

Serves: 4-6
Time to make: ~1 hour 15 minutes

What you need:

• 1 tsp. olive oil
• ½ cup onion, minced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 medium carrot, diced
• ¾ lb. cremini mushrooms, finely chopped
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• ¼ cup chicken stock
• 1½ tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 3 tbsp. ketchup
• salt, pepper and dried herbs to taste
• 2 slices good white bread, processed to a fine crumb
• 1 lb. ground turkey

1. Heat the oil over medium-high
2. Saute the onion, garlic, carrots and mushrooms for 10 minutes, or until very soft
3. Mix the egg, stock, Worcestershire sauce, ketchup and seasonings
4. Stir in the breadcrumbs
5. With your hands, mix in the turkey and the sauteed vegetables until the mixture is well-mixed and holding together fairly well (it will be very moist)
6. In a lightly oiled loaf pan, form the mixture into a loaf
7. Bake in the 400-degree oven (still heated from roasting the vegetables for the sauce) for 50-55 minutes, until the top is browned and the interior reaches 170 degrees
8. Slice and serve with Roasted Tomato Sauce on top

Note: If you don’t want to do the Roasted Tomato Sauce (although I highly recommend it), you could use any tomato sauce or even ketchup, if your tastes run that way. This loaf made its own “gravy” as it cooked, so it might even be fine on its own.

Quick and Easy Tomato Sauce for Pasta

When you don’t know what to make for dinner, pasta is always a good solution. But don’t you dare open that jar of pasta sauce with all of its corn syrup and artificial ingredients that tastes more like sugar than anything. In just a little more time, you can make a really tasty pasta sauce from scratch. This recipe makes enough for 2 plus leftovers. Make double and freeze some for next time, why don’t you?

Tomato Sauce

Serves: 2-4
Time to make: 20 minutes – 1 hour

• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• ½ medium onion, minced (optional)
• 1 14-ounce can diced or crushed tomatoes
• 1 tbsp. tomato paste (optional)
• ¼ cup red wine (optional)
• Salt, pepper, other seasonings to taste

Heat the oil over medium-low. Saute the garlic and and onion until golden. You can add other aromatics at this point, like mushrooms, carrots, celery, peppers or chiles, if you like.

Add the tomatoes. I strongly recommend organic canned tomatoes — they taste tons better because there is less salt and other additives, and the tomatoes they started from were better to begin with. One product I’ve grown really fond of lately is crushed organic tomatoes in a tall glass jar (I don’t remember the brand). It doesn’t have the canned taste, and you can use as much as you need and refrigerate the rest — handy!

If you want a thicker sauce, stir in tomato paste. What do you do with that leftover tomato paste? Spoon it out on wax paper by the tablespoon and freeze. Once it’s frozen, store it in freezer bags, and you’ll have pre-measured tomato paste whenever you need it. I’m also seeing tomato paste in a glass jar now, which lets you store leftovers in the refrigerator.

If you’re feeling a little ooh-la-la, add the wine and drink the rest of the bottle with dinner — otherwise, skip it. Season — an Italian dried herb mix comes in handy right about now.

Raise the heat to medium and simmer until it starts to look “saucy,” about 10 minutes (long enough to cook the pasta) or up to 45 minutes, if you so choose. Taste the sauce frequently while it’s cooking. If it tastes too acidic, stir in a little sugar. Leave it chunky or puree if you want and serve over pasta.

Of course, tomato sauce has a lot more uses than just for pasta. Now that you’ve got the basic formula down, you can whip up some tomato sauce whenever you might need it, such as when you’re making lasagne or meatball sandwiches.

Update: If you have a lot of fresh tomatoes on hand, you can also make this sauce with fresh tomatoes for immediate eating or freezing, in order to preserve your tomatoes after the growing season. About 16 roma tomatoes will make about 1 cup of sauce. The tomatoes should be peeled and chopped before cooking. I usually eliminate the onion, tomato paste and wine, especially if I’m freezing the sauce, as I can add more flavors during reheating — but the garlic is essential. Fresh tomatoes usually require only 10 minutes of cooking to break down into a thick sauce.