Speak slowly and teach me how to make spaghetti sauce.

[*********]

So we grew our first tomato plants ever this summer. We're harvesting our tomatoes now, and need to make some spaghetti sauce to freeze.

 

I've never made spaghetti sauce before. My family has a favorite jarred sauce that I always buy. It's smooth; by which I mean, it has spices in it, but no chunks of onion, tomato, etc. So I need to make a smooth sauce, 'cause no one will eat it otherwise. :D

 

How do I do this? I'm thinking I need to somehow remove the skins and seeds from the tomatoes, then cook them down in a pot with some spices (like oregano, basil, parsley, salt, pepper, and a pinch of sugar maybe?). Is it that simple? Should I add tomato paste and garlic? I'm assuming, even if I mash the tomatoes while cooking them, I may need to put them through the blender and return them to the pot (before I add the spices), so as to avoid chunks. :tongue_smilie:

 

Anyone have a good recipe I could possibly tweak to fit my family?

[melissad2]

:bigear:

[justamouse]

My 100% Italian MIL is here, and she taught me to make sauce. So, here's how you do it.

 

Crush up three garlic cloves and then chop them (You know how to crush them and peel them?)

 

Then dice onion and add the garlic and onion into a pan with about three tbsp of olive oil. Salt and pepper, and then saute until the onion is soft and translucent.

 

SOME people grate (on the tiny grate side) a small carrot, too, to add sweetness to the sauce. I do that sometimes.

 

Now, I use whole San Marzano tomatoes because I think they're sweeter-and if you buy the big can at costco they're only 3.00. I put them in the blender and zap them up. But you can used crushed, too.

 

So I add in the large can (the HUGE one) of blended tomatoes and let it come to a simmer. I have basil I froze and I add in a leaf or two (and I blended up basil and made basil cubes and add about two cubes to a pot of sauce).

 

If you want meat sauce, brown up the meat (pork and gr meat are best) when you are sauteing the onions. If you make meatballs, you can either put them into the broiler and then put them in the sauce, but I add mine raw into the sauce when it's at a simmer then leave them to set a bit before I stir.

 

Adding a few pieces of pepperoni is amazing. When I make sauce with sausage, I poke it with the knife all over, then let it cook until it's brown, then slice into large pieces and add all of that in -with the grease and browned bits. Yes. All of it. That's what makes it excellent.

 

The sauce is done when it's orangy-even without the meat. You have to simmer till it's got that orangy sheen.

 

Once you make a basic sauce, you can go crazy from there. I made vodka sauce last night, you can add beans, the sky's the limit.

[gardening momma]

Definitely include a bit of sugar. Going from a jarred sauce to scratch, you'll want the sugar to take out the tangy pure-tomato taste.

 

I don't have a lot of experience with making spaghetti sauce from fresh tomatoes--I usually buy canned crushed tomatoes, so they don't have the skin and seeds. What I would do after removing the skin (probably need to blanch them for that) and seeds is to blend them to the consistency you want before cooking. And while you cook, use a splatter screen. Tomato sauce spits terribly. I will often put paper towel over the splatter screen because it spits through the screen too. Or just cover with a lid, I guess.

[Ellie]

Don't you think your family might be willing to live dangerously and eat chunks, if those chunks were the tomatoes that came out of their own garden? :D I mean, you could try it once and see how it goes.

 

Here's what I'm thinking:

 

Cut up your tomatoes--in half first, and remove the seeds, then chop them. Don't worry about removing the skins. I'm thinking 3 or 4 lb.

 

Chop an onion and a few cloves of garlic. Sauté them in a pot in oil until the onions are soft. You can add your herbs at this time, whichever ones you want (oregano, basil, thyme, etc.). You can also sauté sliced mushrooms if y'all like them. Add the tomatoes; cook until they're all soft and mushy. If you have wine, you could add a cup or so the last hour. Serve over spaghetti. Yum.

 

If you're pretty sure your family won't want to even try the lumps, you could sauté the onions, garlic, and seasonings, add the tomatoes, process in a food processor until they're all soft, and put it all back in the pot to cook. You'd add mushrooms at this point, and later, the wine.

[*********]

Don't you think your family might be willing to live dangerously and eat chunks, if those chunks were the tomatoes that came out of their own garden? :D

 

You would think. But no.

 

:D

 

(We're dealing with sensory issues, fwiw.)

[justamouse]

If you want to skin them fast, get some water boiling, cut an X in the bottom of the tomato, dunk them int he water for a few seconds and then transfer to a bowl. When they're cool just slip the skins off.

 

We get a huge line going, one cuts, one dunks, the other peels. Good music and fun will be had by all. Now, you can't get my MIL to peel a tomato -she did it all when she was young (they canned all of the tomatoes they would use through he year) and she still hates peeling tomatoes to this day.

I just can the basic marinara and then add what I want while I make the dinner.

[gardening momma]

Don't you think your family might be willing to live dangerously and eat chunks, if those chunks were the tomatoes that came out of their own garden? :D I mean, you could try it once and see how it goes.

 

You would think. But no.

 

:D

 

(We're dealing with sensory issues, fwiw.)

It can be a matter of taste, too. I don't like cooked tomatoes unless they're in a smooth sauce. So I don't like cooked tomato chunks, no matter where they came from.

[Mrs Mungo]

I use canned crushed tomatoes, I would steam and peel fresh tomatoes. If I needed a non-chunky sauce, then I would put it through the food processor and then cook it a bit more, that should make it pretty smooth.

 

I cut up an onion and 3 or 4 carrots really fine and sauté them. I then add 4 or 5 cloves of garlic with any dried herbs (fresh herbs go in at the end) and cook just a bit more. Sometimes I put zucchini or squabs or eggplant in with the carrots, sometimes I do not. The carrots add enough sweetness that you don't need sugar. I add tomatoes (2 large cans of crushed), a cup of white wine and let it simmer for about 30 minutes. I then add half of a cup of milk or cream. This cuts the acid and makes it taste sweeter.

 

I use salt, pepper, oregano, basil and parsley in my sauce.

[cjzimmer1]

I don't have texture issues here but I've yet to find ANY homemade sauce recipe that anyone (myself including) likes. I keep trying because I really do want to figure this out but the reality is we are use to the jarred sauce (and LIKE that flavor) so all the homemade stuff is really lacking in taste. No matter how many spices I had, there is still this overwhelming tomato flavor. Since I make almost everything from scratch (and prefer the homemade stuff in every other instance), this is particularly vexing to me that I can't make make a decent spaghetti sauce.

 

So the point is, If you are going to make sauce, make a small amount first because even if you get the texture right, they still might object to the flavor.

 

As far as getting the smooth texture, you could try running the whole thing through a blender. If seeds are an issue, I would cut them up and squeeze out the seeds before you cook it down (you could save this juice and strain it and have tomato juice to drink or add to soups if you don't want to waste the juice). Or if you have the money you could buy a food mill to strain it. I love my food milll and use it for quite a few things so it was a worthwhile investment. If you are only talking about tomatoes from a few plants (say 10-15 or less) it's probably not worth the investment for you.

 

This is the strainer I have:

 

http://www.farmandfleet.com/products/165555-food_strainer_and_sauce_maker.html#.TlvKmmHW_CY

[Myra]

After you've finished making the sauce and it's cooled - just stick in a "wand" or "stick" blender in the pot and give it a go - everything in your sauce will be smooth as can be.

 

I put butternut squash, carrots, zuchinni, & green peppers along with my tomatoes - bring to a boil then simmer for 30 minutes - wand blend everything and my kids don't know the difference! (It's a Jaimie Oliver - guy from the food revolution show - I found his recipe in a magazine at the allergist's office! My kids love it!)

 

Myra

Edited August 29, 2011 by Myra

[OrganicAnn]

We quarter the tomatoes (remove any green or bad places). We don't peel the tomatoes. Add some onions, garlic (1/2 the garlic), basil, salt and cook until the tomes are cooked completely. We often had 1/2 a small can of tomato paste to a large pot of tomatoes (freeze the other half to make with the next batch). At the end, we put in the 2nd 1/2. The more you cook garlic, the milder it gets so we like to add some at the end.

 

Cool. But it in batches into the food processor or blender. Blend for as long as it takes to get the consistence you need.

 

We don't put sugar in our sauce. We don't like a sweet sauce.

 

We will put various other things in - balsamic vinegar, oregano, roasted red pepper etc.

 

Another thing is you can roast some or all of the tomatoes in the oven and then make sauce with them. This gives a slightly deeper flavor.

[JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst]

I don't have any experience with turning fresh tomatoes into sauce-just canned.

 

With fresh tomatoes I dice a couple cloves of garlic, finely chop a couple of green onions, dice up some fresh mozzarella (the buffalo style balls), dice a few of your fresh tomatoes (remove the seeds first), set all that aside. Cook your favorite pasta (I like linguini or fettuccine) drain quickly when done put in serving dish and toss with the above ingredients. You can add a bit of olive oil if desired.

[hellen]

I do the oven method that was mentioned previously because I find it the easiest. I made 28 cups of sauce from our garden tomatoes last week.

 

After washing the tomatoes, I put the cherry tomatoes whole in a 9x13 pan. The larger tomatoes are cut so they are closer in size to the cherry tomatoes. I will fill the pan up about half full of tomatoes. To the tomatoes, I add several cloves of garlic, a thickly sliced onion, oregano, salt, pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil. Sometimes I add other things like balsamic vinegar, white wine, fennel, red peppers, or zucchini.

 

The pan goes in an oven with whatever temperature is convenient. I've done it anywhere from 350 up to 500 I think. It depends on what else I have to bake. My usual temperature is closer to 350. I have never really noticed a difference but that may be due to lack of observational skills.

 

In the oven the tomatoes will release their juices and become smaller and softer. I like to take it out when the onions on top are getting some black marks (I'm too lazy to mix everything together when I assemble so the onions are always on top). At this point there is still a good bit of juice in the pan. The less juice, the thicker the sauce will taste. It's personal preference. I can't give you a time because it is so variable. If you're cooking at 350 degrees then check it after 30 minutes or so but it could take over an hour.

 

Once it is out, I dump the entire thing in a food processor and blend until smooth. It's not remotely chunky but if the texture still isn't right for your family you could strain it. While it is in the food processor I often add basil and grated Romano or Parmesan cheese.

[KungFuPanda]

This thread makes me happy. All of it.

 

 

 

That is all.

[WiseOwlKnits]

Go to the store. Buy a can of Ragu. Come home. Pour it in a pan and heat it up.

 

That's how I make it. I make a lot of stuff from scratch, but spaghetti sauce intimidates me. For some reason, I thought it was way more difficult to make it than from what people are saying. But you've inspired me to try it from scratch. So thanks! :)