Simple Tomato Sauce

Uses: this should give you sauce for 4 portions of pasta

This is my simple tomato sauce that I use all the time. Its fast and easy and takes only 25 minutes.

400 gr. tins whole Italian plum tomatoes
(or)
400 gr. tins/tetra pack/bottle passsata (pasteurized tomatoes)

Assembling the recipe:

Assemble all the ingredients.

If your using whole canned plum tomatoes, place them in a bowl with their liquid and crush with your hands.

Heat a frying pan on a medium heat. Pour in the oil and gently saute the onions until translucent (until they loose their color), then add the garlic and saute for a minute more taking care that the garlic does not burn.

Put in the bay leaf and fresh parsley, and/or basil, saute for a minute to help release the flavors from the spices.

Add the canned tomatoes, sugar, salt & pepper, bring to a simmer and cover.

Cook for 20 minutes stirring occasionally. Turn down the heat if you need to.

If the plum tomatoes were too watery, remove the lid, increase the heat and simmer gently for 5 minutes more to evaporate any excess water and thicken the sauce.

I never understand why anyone would buy prepared tomato sauce. It has to be a total hatred of oneself. All of the brands I have tried are really poorly done, too sweet and basically disgusting in texture and flavor. Not to mention the things that have to be added to thicken them and keep them for years at a time on store shelves. They are expensive as one jar is usually only enough for 2 - 3 portions of pasta and cost between 30 and 40 kronor a bottle. Use this recipe and it should not cost more than 15 kronor even with a good brand of Italian tomatoes.

Love yourself a little bit more. "Because Your Worth It!"

Try to always buy the best quality imported Italian canned tomatoes that you can, it always pays off in the end product. If you like a more chunky sauce buy whole tomatoes and crush them yourself, even though they will cost slightly more, they tend to pack the better tomatoes whole and the not so desirable ones as crushed tomatoes and then charge a kronor or 2 less per can so you think your getting a bargain.

Garlic: Don't use a garlic press, chop it finely with a knife. You want to add the garlic when the onions are sauted, if you press it into a hot pan it will just burn right off. You want to saute the garlic to give it time to release its flavor.

If you like you can add a bit pinch of dried red chili flakes for a bit of bite with the garlic.

Adding the spices to the pan and sauteing them before you add the tomatoes helps release their flavors into the oil and gives you a much better result in the end. This is just a basic practice I use and it does make all the difference.

There is always a debate about sugar in tomato sauce but I most often use it as canned tomatoes (especially cheap ones) vary their ripeness and acid content at the time of their canning. Both salt and sugar are good at neutralizing the natural acid in tomatoes but do be careful you don't want a sweet sauce - that's disgusting.

There is also debate about dried basil. Here in Sweden we don't always have access to fresh herbs and I don't normally use basil in my sauce anyway. But in the winter months I think it is effective at adding a little extra something to it. Basil doesn't dry well and the cheaper brands should be completely avoided, I have found that Knorr has the best commercially produced with Santa Maria coming in as next best.

Fresh parsley as I have said in some other recipes is really import and in tomato sauce, I always use it. It just adds a freshness that really compliments tomatoes. I also like to have a bit extra chopped and ready to sprinkle in to my pasta when I sauce my pasta. Besides, it has the added benefit of making even boring old spaghetti look fresher and livelier.

If you like you can use one can of whole tomatoes and one of pasteurized tomatoes for a smoother sauce. I think it depends on the type of pasta your using and your personal preference. If you do then you might not have to cook this sauce for the extra 5 minutes with the lid off to evaporate excess water as pasteurized tomatoes don't normally have any extra water in them. If anything you often have to add a little water.

Some people like a lot of sauce and some don't. This is a personal choice, personally if I am having tomato sauce on my pasta I want to know its there, so I use quite a bit. In Italy they don't normally use as much as I do except in the south where food in naturally more generous in portions and flavors.