Leftover Tomato Sauce Week (or: The Week In Which I, at the Age of 22, Finally Stop Spelling Tomato “Tomatoe”)

So I was making me a huge pot of tomato sauce for a week’s worth of new and exciting recipes when I thought to myself, “You know what you haven’t done in a while, Self? You haven’t blogged one word in seven whole months! The tomato sauce you are going to be making doesn’t even look like the tomato sauce you made two whole years ago” 

“You’re right, Self,” I replied, “my poor forgotten readers deserve to see all of this week’s new and exciting recipes to make up for my long hiatus.”

That’s right, Ladies and Germs, its Leftover Sauce Week.

Behold! The mighty tower of Leftovers!

Today I will show you exactly how to make the most delicious, completely from scratch, tomato sauce you will ever feast your mouth on. From there we are headed into the realm of Veal Puttanesca, beyond the land of Minestrone Soup, deep into the caves of Pasta Bolognese, through the forests of Ragu and past the island of Baked Eggplant before landing on the sacred shores of Homemade Pizza. So throw out that bottle of store bought sauce, cause we’re going on an adventure!

For today, though, we are going to make what can be best described as a metric crap ton of sauce (or approximately 1.1 imperial crap tons of sauce for you inch lovers out there).

For this, you will need:

• 1 head of garlic with the cloves separated, peeled and sliced
• 1 3-lb bag of onions, chopped into 1″ pieces
• 1/4 cup packed fresh basil, chiffonaded
• 1 Tbs packed fresh oregano leaves
• 1 Tbs packed fresh parsley, roughly chopped
• 3 large (28 oz) cans of tomatoes, crushed
• 1 large (28 oz) can of tomatoes, fine diced
• 1 large (28 oz) can of tomatoes, pureed
• Plenty o’ salt, pepper and olive oil
• One really freaking big pot
• One sufficiently long spoon
• One stool (for the vertically challenged)

 

Aside from being efficient, mise en place looks hella impressive

Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil over medium low heat and add the garlic. Saute the garlic until it is ever so slightly golden around the edges and then add the onions and a few hefty pinches of salt. Cook the onions over low heat until they are translucent and have begun to slightly caramelize (about 30 minutes) .

I tried to get an image from above but steam and camera lenses do not agree with one another.

If, at this point, you see any bits of burnt garlic, pull them out. Add the herbs, all five cans of tomatoes, and the plenty of salt and pepper and bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer, stirring occasionally until sauce is cooked (about one hour). 

If, like me, you compose blog posts while you are cooking, be sure to set a timer so that  you don’t forget to stir. If, like me, you forget to do this, add a bit more salt and dried versions of the herbs in the proportions listed above to mask the bitterness and learn to live with the fact that everything you cook for the next week will taste slightly…smokey.

Look at all the sauce!

Prep Time: 30 Minutes

Cook Time: 2 Hours

Enjoy and be sure to join me later this week for Veal Puttanesca!