A Simple Tomato Sauce to Begin With
By starting with the basics you’ll have an enviable repertoire of tasty dishes in no time.
The notion of perfection is so exasperating. We spend hours feasting on mouth-watering images where everything’s labelled The Best, The Healthiest, The Tastiest so when it’s our turn to cook we’re left paralysed with fear.
As if learning to cook isn’t daunting enough, a Google search for something as simple as tomato sauce can leave you overwhelmed and ready to quit before you’ve peeled an onion.
You need a different strategy. When you are learning to cook, don’t seek perfection or set out to impress with the mastery of complicated dishes — just grasp some basics and learn to appreciate simplicity.
We spend so little time cooking these days that simplicity is a joy that we seem to have lost and the realisation that you can create delicious meals from so few ingredients will be your most powerful lesson.
“Grasp the basics and learn to appreciate simplicity. “
How to Make Tomato Sauce
Choose a 400g tin of good-quality tomatoes. For speed, I use tinned, chopped tomatoes and I like the brand Mutti as it offers tremendous value and great flavour. Often chopped tomatoes are thought to be of a lesser quality but I don’t find this with the Mutti Polpa.
Use Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Choose the best that you can afford.
Peel and chop an onion. You don’t need to dice it too finely as it is going to get blitzed.
Peel and chop a nice plump clove of garlic.
Heat a small, heavy-bottomed pan on the stove and add enough of your olive oil to cover the bottom.
When the oil starts to shimmer add the onions, season with ½ tsp of fine sea salt and cook until they are soft and translucent. Stir occasionally and if they start to brown too quickly reduce the heat.
Add the garlic and let it sizzle for about 20 seconds.
Pour in your tomatoes. If you are using whole plum tomatoes then you should squish them before putting them in.
Now bring the sauce to a boil before turning the heat right down to a simmer. Don’t allow the sauce to stick or burn and add a splash of water if necessary. You can cook the sauce for up to 30 mins but if time is of the essence taste it after 15 minutes or so.*
When you are happy with the flavour, swirl about 30ml of olive oil into the sauce, leave for a minute and then blitz to a smooth consistency with a stick blender. Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary. If this step seems extravagant you can leave it out.
Now you can stir it into your just-cooked pasta, grate over some parmesan and savour the taste of simplicity.
*Experiment with different cooking times so you can gauge the benefit of cooking for longer.
Nailing a good tomato sauce is a great milestone in your cooking journey. Not only can you cook this in bigger batches and freeze but you can use it as the base for so many dishes. Even small tweaks can create great variations:
Stir in 200g of mascarpone for a creamy tomato sauce.
Add ¼ or ½ tsp of chilli flakes for a bit of heat.
Add some fresh basil or some dried oregano.
Add some pancetta for meatiness — first cook the pancetta before removing and cooking the onions in the pancetta fat. Return the pancetta to the pot before blitzing. Delicious.
Add a teaspoon of smoked paprika for smokiness
Add a chipotle chilli for heat and smoke…
The list goes on and of course, you can use combinations of the above to create classics like Bucatini all’Amatriciana or use the base as the start for more complicated dishes like chilli or a ragu.
Incorporating some protein for a more balanced dish is a simple progression too — just stir in some tuna, grilled chicken, chickpeas or lentils.
Be patient and have fun.
