Monday, December 31, 2007

Fresh Tomatoes for Sauce

Adapted from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan

A lot of Marcella's recipes call for tomatoes that are ready for sauce. Last summer when the tomatoes were glorious, I accidentally stumbled on how good it was to get them "ready" and have them on hand. I swear next year when the tomatoes are glorious I am going to do a ton and put them up for the winter because they were so delicious, and if any of you haven't read the blog Cream Puffs in Venice, now is the moment to read about doing the tomatoes.

I want to mention a fabulous product at this point. Bella Cucina Artful Food's Organic Passata al Pomodoro. When I first wrote this post, December 31, 2007, Bella Cucina had a stand in the Market at Grand Central, which I discovered one day when I was stopping at Murray's to get some fresh ricotta. The week before last I shuttled over to Grand Central specifically to get a jar, and the stand was gone! These tomatoes are truly wonderful, surpassing anything I have found in a jar or a can. They are, however, smooth so if you want texture, they aren't for you. Other than that, they are fabulous.


They are so good that I gave Amy a case for Christmas. That was easy. Their main HQ is in Virginia Highlands in Atlanta, and Wright went to pick them up for me. I hope she likes them as much as I do. So I don't know if anyone in New York carries these tomatoes; I'm going to try to find out; otherwise, I guess they would have to be shipped from Atlanta. Bummer.

The solution, of course, is to do your own.



Fresh Tomatoes for Sauce
Adapted from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan

A lot of Marcella's recipes call for tomatoes that are ready for sauce.  Of course you can always use canned tomatoes.  A lot of tomatoes from Italy are excellent as are the brands Muir Glen and Bionaturae, but if it's summer, and the tomatoes are glorious, the solution, of course, is to do your own.

There are two ways to prepare fresh, ripe tomatoes for sauce. First, you can blanch them by plunging the tomatoes in boiling water for a little less than a minute. Drain, skin, and cut into coarse pieces.

Next, is the food mill method, which produces a smooth sauce, and it is the one I use.

Wash the tomatoes, cut them length-wise in half, and put them in a saucepan. (At this point, I add a little salt to taste, but you don't have to; you can add salt to the recipe you will use them in.)

Turn on the heat to medium, and cook for 20 to 30 minutes, depending on how thick you want the tomatoes to get.

When done to my liking, I use my food mill fitted with the disk with the smallest holes to puree the tomatoes and all their juices into a bowl.  You can use the disc with the largest holes if you want a coarser sauce.

I put the tomatoes I am not using immediately away in one-cup increments in a small Ziplock bag made for freezing.

 If you like, you can add some fresh basil before you put them away, but I don't do this because I rarely use basil in my tomato sauce.


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3 comments:

  1. I was just thinking over the weekend how all I really wanted was a fresh tomato sandwich and I was lamenting the fact that it wasn't tomato season. I'm with you-- making a bunch of this sauce and putting it up?! Brilliant.

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  2. I came across your blog looking for cucumber sandwiches, but since I saw your post on the tomato sauce I thought I'd post a comment that Alton Brown's Good Eats will be about three methods of making sauce this Friday and Saturday. Here's the link to the schedule and recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_ea/episode/0,1976,FOOD_9956_15898,00.html Thought you might be interested. I'll enjoy perusing your blog even though I didn't find the cucumber sandwiches.

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  3. Thanks for the tip on Alton Brown. I wonder if you are making tea sandwiches. The last time I made cucumber sandwiches for a crowd, I got Pepperidge Farm Thin-sliced White Bread, cut off the crusts, liberally buttered each piece of bread with softened butter so both sides were buttered, put thin slices of peeled cucumber in them, cut the sandwich at an angle, wrapped them in damp (not wet) paper towels and refrigerated them overnight. I got the tip about wrapping them from a friend who had lived in England. Marion Cunningham in the Fannie Farmer Cookbook suggests salting the cukes, letting them stand for 10 minutes before patting dry, and then using mayonnaise in addition to the butter. Of course, she does not have the wrapping and refrigerating step.

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