I’m throwing together something from scratch (and a can of tomato paste), and I need some spice thoughts. Oregano/basil/a little sugar, sure, but: anything else? Garlic, pepper, what? I’m already tossing in some scallions and red peppers already.
The oil’s heating now for sauteing the scallions and peppers, so this is a matter of some urgency.
Shrooms, hot italian sausage? Kind of depends on the end target for the sauce, I guess. I just always add what sounds good, in what seems like appropriate amounts…
No shrooms, sweet sausage, but I went with your ‘what sounds good’ technique.
Why sugar, though? Been making my own tom+meat sauce since Cooter was a pup, and never ever put any sugar in it (just salt, pepper, oregano).
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Only potential drawback is that it will spoil you for store bought brands, which taste unpleasantly sweet to my palate. #NotEvenSorry
We did that Blue Apron thing a couple of weeks ago as part of our staycation, and one of the recipes involved a do-it-yourself tomato sauce. It said sugar, we liked how it came out, I tossed in a spoonful this time. Seemed to work out OK, but I may try not doing it next time.
brown sugar rather than white sugar.
or red wine.
same result.
What I have been liking is throwing in capers & black olives.
In addition to oregano and basil…
Thyme, rosemary, marjoram(!), black pepper, salt, garlic, onion.
Maybe some red wine or lemon juice.
(Takes Notes)
That’s one of the reasons why I put these up: I’ve noticed that many of my readers cook.
Mostly on the grill, but yes 😀 I smoke mean pork loin…
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Ever give any thought to growing some of your own herbs and spices? Many of them are quite hardy and prolific, and fresh beats dried 10-1 easily, and nothing beats the satisfaction of using home grown in home cooked:D (IMHO, YMMV)
We have a remarkably hardy potted shrub of rosemary out front, but the light’s not good for an extended herb garden.
For something like this, I like following a recipe because when I’m using 4-5 different spices I never end up with them balanced well.
Alton Brown has a recipe, but it starts with slow roasting 20 tomatoes. Yeah, no.
Haven’t tried this, but it looks reasonable:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/marinara-sauce-recipe
Throw out the tomatoes.
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Start with 16oz of peaches and 4-8oz of pineapple. Frozen works, fresh is more work.
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Roast both in a parchment-lined jelly roll pan (a cookie sheet with edges) at 350 for about 30 minutes.
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Dump the entire thing into a deep stock pot. Trust me, deep is better.
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Using an immersion (stick-type) blender, puree the fruit. Be thorough, lumps are bad.
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Warm it up until bubbling.
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Add vinegar, honey, ginger, onion powder, clove, mustard powder, black pepper, salt, a bit more ginger, and nutmeg .. If anyone asks, I can run down the amounts I use.
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Whisk (or blend, since you’ve already got the stick blender out and everything) together.
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Simmer (it bubbles and spits a bit, thus the deep stock pot means less cleanup) for 20-30 minutes, stirring intermittently.
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Now, you’ve got a naturally sweet fruit base to add some oregano, thyme, basil, parsley, and maybe a bit more onion to.
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Mew
This sounds very interesting, what are the amounts of vinegar etc that you used. Do you use this as you would a tomato sauce or is this something you add to another sauce.
This works more like a catsup than tomato sauce or tomato paste.
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Add browned ground beef, and you’ve got a very nice “sloppy joe”, add noodles to that and you’ve approached a too-sweet spaghetti with meat sauce.
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For italian stuff, it will accept the typical oregano/basil/thyme combo seasonings adequately, although an alfredo or pesto is usually better flavored.
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Mix a batch heavier on pineapple, slit a pork tenderloin lengthwise and fill with sauce, then bake .. comes out nice and tender.
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Also works nicely everywhere catsup works**, smear it on a burger, dip fries in it, whatever.
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Honey – depending on how sweet I want it, somewhere between 1/3 and 2/3 of a cup of honey.
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Vinegar – I usually use about 1/2 cup of cider vinegar, rice wine vinegar and closer to 2/3 cup if I’m using it for savory rather than sweet.
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1 teaspoon mustard
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon clove
1 1/2 tsp salt
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Increase mustard, onion, ginger by 1/4 tsp if angling toward savory.
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Mew
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** As a Chicago cat, I cannot tell you to try it on hot dogs as catsup of any kind on a hot dog is sacrilegious.
probably late, but have you considered using capers?
Maybe next time.
I always add about a tsp of anise seed to my sauce. And no tomato paste but one can of whole tomatoes blended with a hand wand and one of crushed tomatoes for a lighter sauce.
Hmmm. Anise, huh? I’ll have to try that.
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Mew
I misspoke as I meant fennel seed but I expect that they would be similar. Full recipe: garlic, onions, red wine, olive oil, oregano, basil, fennel, red and black pepper, salt and good whole and crushed canned tomatoes with optional mushrooms and ripe peppers. I add sausage for meat or a can of anchovies early on as a back ground if a fish sauce and then add the seafood at the end so as not to overcook.