Making tomato sauce is a snap. Compared with the finished product from the store, home wins in all respects: natural ingredients, lack of dyes and artificial preservatives, pleasant for your taste, the amount of salt and spices.
General principles for making tomato sauce at home
The main ingredient, of course, is tomatoes. For tomato sauce, they must be very ripe, you can even take slightly overripe. Most recipes, especially when it comes to dressing for classic Italian pizza, use red varieties of tomatoes.
But there are such varieties of sauce that do not require fresh tomatoes - they are made from tomato paste or juice. The main advantage of such recipes is speed. However, the original product must be of high quality, otherwise the sauce will turn out to be tasteless.
Salt is usually added to tomato sauce, and very often sugar is added to balance the sourness inherent in tomatoes. The personality of the finished dish is given by spices, various spicy herbs. Tomatoes are well combined with basil, a delicious sauce is obtained by adding garlic. Peppers will help to give pepper: red, black or chili. More spicy will make homemade tomato sauce a small amount of wine or balsamic vinegar. There are also variations with slices of sweet pepper, olives, zucchini, onions.
Home Tomato Sauce: Italian Fresh Tomatoes
The aroma of Italy’s sauce is given by the traditional spices of this country: basil, marjoram, oregano. It can be used to make pizza or fill them with pasta.
Ingredients
A dozen ripe tomatoes;
two teaspoons of dry oregano;
half a teaspoon of dry basil;
a quarter of a teaspoon of dried marjoram;
tbsp tomato paste;
a teaspoon of white wine (dry). Cooking
1. On each tomato we make a cut in the form of a cross. Dip in boiling water for 30 seconds. We take out, immersed briefly in cold water. Then free the tomatoes from the skin and cut them into slices.
2. Put the tomatoes in a saucepan, simmer on low heat. We need to evaporate the juice. Ten minutes after the start of cooking salt, add all herbs.
3. To the consistency of the sauce was perfectly smooth and tender, get rid of the seeds of tomatoes. To do this, simply skip the finished mass through a sieve.
4. Pour some white wine into the cooled sauce, this will add a piquant touch. If you wish, you can replace the wine with lemon juice.
Tomato sauce at home: for pizza (from tomato paste)
Preparation takes only a quarter of an hour. To please the taste of the prepared sauce, choose a high-quality tomato paste, best of all - made according to GOST. It should not be artificial thickeners, such as starch, flavor enhancers, dyes. Only tomatoes, water and salt.
Ingredients
200 grams of tomato paste;
three cloves of garlic;
three tablespoons of olive oil;
half a teaspoon of sugar;
ground black pepper;
half a teaspoon of a mixture of dried oregano and basil;
glass of water;
salt;
two tablespoons of wine (dry red).
Method of preparation
1. Clean and chop the garlic. Fry it in a skillet in olive oil until light golden brown, in any case, do not let it burn.
2. Add tomato paste to garlic oil, dilute with water. Season with a mixture of basil and oregano, sugar, salt, pepper, pour in wine. On low heat bring the sauce to readiness, enough for ten minutes.
Tomato sauce at home: marinara
This is a classic Italian sauce, which necessarily contains basil, oregano, garlic, and ground red pepper. Herbs can be taken both fresh and dried, and the amount of garlic and pepper can vary depending on the desired sharpness. Also, ground seeds of fennel, olives, balsamic vinegar, capers are added to this sauce in different variations. Marinara is perfect for pasta and seafood. Ingredients
One and a half kilograms of tomatoes;
50 grams of red wine;
olive oil;
half a lemon;
two tea spoons of sugar;
four cloves of garlic;
a teaspoon of basil and oregano;
half a teaspoon of marjoram;
a quarter of a teaspoon of ground red pepper;
salt.
Method of preparation
1. Put the tomatoes in a metal colander, put it for half a minute in a pot of boiling water. We remove from all tomatoes skin. Then punch the tomatoes with a blender. You can also use a meat grinder.
2. Finely chopped garlic fry in olive oil in a deep saucepan. Add chopped tomatoes. Cook on medium heat until the sauce boils.
3. Now is the seasoning time. We send herbs, wine, red pepper, granulated sugar to a stewpot. Stew on low heat until the juice has evaporated, and the sauce does not acquire the consistency of thick cream.
4. At the final stage of cooking, add salt to our sauce and add lemon juice to it.
Tomato sauce at home: from tomato juice
It is very important to use thick quality tomato juice for this sauce. From the half-liter box you get about a glass of ready-made sauce, which is perfect for shish kebab or fried chicken.
Ingredients
0.5 liters of tomato juice;
a spoon of granulated sugar;
salt;
a pinch of ground pepper;
teaspoon dried basil;
a pinch of cinnamon.
Method of preparation
1. Pour granulated sugar into a deep frying pan, heat it on low heat to make it caramelize.
2. Add tomato juice. While stirring, boil the liquid in half.
3. Season the future with basil, ground black pepper and cinnamon. As for salt, its amount depends on how salty juice is used. Try and dosolite as needed.
4. We continue to boil down the tomato sauce to the degree of density that we want to get. If it still turns out to be watery (perhaps, the juice was initially not too thick), add a little tomato paste.
Tomato sauce at home: Mexican with chili
For those who like it hot. Incredibly fast and sharp! This sauce is especially good with corn chips, or you can just use it as a spicy snack. If chili does not scare you, use it along with the seeds or remove them to make the sauce taste softer.
Ingredients
Two large tomatoes;
one onion;
three chili peppers;
a teaspoon of salt;
two teaspoons of lemon juice.
Method of preparation
1. Make cross-shaped cuts on each tomato, place the tomatoes for half a minute in boiling water, then remove the skin from them.
2. We cut tomatoes and onions into large pieces. Chop the chili pepper.
3. Put the vegetables in the bowl of the blender. Pour lemon juice there, fill with salt. Grind all ingredients to a state of uniformity. Mexican hot sauce is ready!
Tomato sauce at home: with zucchini pieces
This recipe is great for preparing for the winter. It turns out a universal sauce for any meat dishes or pasta.
Ingredients
Two kilograms of tomatoes;
two kilograms of zucchini:
6-7 sweet bell peppers;
two tablespoons of salt;
a glass of sugar;
half a cup of vegetable oil;
Sterling 9% vinegar.
Method of preparation
1. We cut tomatoes and peppers into large chunks, as well as one kilogram of zucchini, which have been previously peeled of skin and seeds. We grind all these ingredients with the help of a meat grinder.
2. The second kilogram of zucchini is cut into small cubes, not more than a centimeter.
3. Put all the vegetables in a deep pan. Pour vegetable oil, add salt and sugar, mix.
4. Simmer for 40 minutes on low heat. At the end of cooking add vinegar.
5. Pour the prepared sauce into hot sterilized jars, roll up the lids.
Tomato sauce at home: chutney
Chutney is from India. His love for a pleasant sweet-sour taste. Most often it is a fruit sauce, but tomatoes are good for him.
Ingredients
A kilogram of tomatoes;
three large red bulbs; a piece of ginger root (2 cm);
five to six medium sized apples;
350 grams of sugar;
one green chili pepper;
250 grams of seedless raisins;
two teaspoons of salt;
300 ml apple cider vinegar.
Method of preparation
1. Tomatoes are immersed in boiling water for thirty seconds, then we remove the skin from them. Cut into large chunks.
2. We clean the apples from the peel and seeds, cut into slices (each into eight parts). We also cut red onions. Cut the chili pepper pod, if you are afraid of spice - remove the seeds.
3. Put the prepared ingredients in the pan. Salt, season with sugar and ginger root, previously grated through a grater. We give the mixture to boil, do not forget to mix, waiting for the sugar to dissolve.
4. Now pour the vinegar, let the sauce simmer for 45 minutes over low heat. It should gradually thicken.
5. Readiness indicator - the softness of onions and apples. Let the chutney cool before serving. Ready sauce can be packaged in small jars and stored in the refrigerator.
Tomato sauce at home - secrets and tricks
· If the sauce is thick, add tomato juice, white wine or lemon juice will also do. But you should not dilute ready-made tomato sauce with water, it will spoil both taste and consistency.
· Too thin tomato sauce will save the addition of ready-made tomato paste.
· Any recipe for tomato sauce can be made more spicy by adding only half of a pod of red hot pepper to it.
· To prevent coarse pieces of dried herbs in a gentle, uniform pizza sauce, grind them into powder before adding them.
