I have a confession to make. Up until about 4 months ago, I had never made my own spaghetti sauce. It's true. Me and Prego go way back. For some reason I had always thought that good spaghetti sauce meant a lot of chopping, dicing and simmering a bunch of ingredients that I would have to go out and specifically buy. Plus, in my book, spaghetti dinner is an easy "go to" dinner. You know, the kind that takes about 10 minutes preparation, because you are too lazy or too late to make anything else.
That all changed when I came across this recipe from a recently purchased cookbook called "Basic Italian Tomato Sauce." It had a total of 4 ingredients, all of which I always have on hand and it consisted of a total of 2 steps.
I gave it a try and I will tell you right now, me and Prego are no longer an item. We have broken up for good and I will never go back.
Really, it is that good and that easy to make. And while it simmers, your house will smell like you are cooking something that took hours to make. So here is the recipe if you would like to make your break from Mr. Prego. He's a phony.
Basic Italian Tomato Sauce
1 1/2 T. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/8 t. crushed red pepper flakes
1 28oz. can tomatoes, pulsed in a blender
1/2 t. coarse salt
1 sprig of fresh basil (optional) I have never used this yet
1 T. unsalted butter (optional)
1.Heat a medium saucepan over medium heat. Swirl around the olive oil to coat the pan. When the oil is hot, add the garlic and red pepper flakes. Stir constantly for 30 seconds, just long enough to release the garlic's fragrance and transform it slightly from its raw state. Don't cook it to golden.
2.Raise the heat to high and stir in the tomatoes and salt. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes. In the last 5 minutes of cooking add the basil sprig, if using. Remove the basil before serving and swirl in the butter, if using.
OK now there has to be a downside right? Let me tell you the only thing. It definitely needs to simmer, just so it isn't runny.
That's it. Now go try it. I promise it's a keeper.
4 comments:
I never have fresh basil handy, but do you think dried basil would work (since you remove the fresh basil?) My Italian girlfriend gave me a yummy recipe for tomato sauce, but like you said, I never make it because it takes too long. This I think I could handle--especially since it takes about 30 mins to get the noodles ready anyhow. Add it to your recipe blog so I can find it later too!
I have been making my own recently and it has every thing this has except the red pepper flakes. I use dried basil all the time. Sometimes I add dehydrated mushrooms to the sauce and it helps to thicken it faster. You can buy dehydrated mushroom slices at Sam's Club.
There is nothing better than homemade spaghetti sauce.
I have been making my own for years and it's similar. I use a tsp of dried basil. I got it from America's Test Kitchen. Fabulous cookbook and website.
Post a Comment