Basic Tomato Sauce
by Kathleen Morrison
SERVINGS
6 cups scale / convert
INGREDIENTS
1 Spanish onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
3 fl. oz. virgin olive oil
4 tbsp. fresh thyme or 2 tbsp. dried thyme
1/2 md. carrot, finely shredded
2 cans (1-3/4 lb. each) crushed tomatoes, with their juices
Salt, to taste
INSTRUCTIONS
Sauté the onion and garlic in the olive oil over medium heat until translucent but not brown (approximately 10 minutes). Add the thyme and carrot and cook 5 minutes more. Add the tomatoes. Bring to a boil, lower the heat to just bubbling, stirring occasionally for 30 minutes. Season with salt to taste. Serve immediately, or set aside for future use.
CHEF COMMENTS
The sauce may be refrigerated for up to one week or frozen for up to 6 months.
TAGS
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12 Recipe Reviews
Giorgio
reviewed Basic Tomato Sauce
Carrots? Revolting in a tomato sauce. They simply don't belong.
Greg R.
reviewed Basic Tomato Sauce
On the contrary, carrots add a sweetness to the sauce that is otherwise lacking. Also, the fructose neutralizes a fair amount of the acetic acid from the tomatoes and leaves you with less heartburn. I ALWAYS use a carrot in my sauce.
Jack Chapman
reviewed Basic Tomato Sauce
I, too, use a carrot in my homemade marinara sauce. It adds sweetness without stooping to sugar.
erika
reviewed Basic Tomato Sauce
The basic ingeredents for the sauce are fine but the amount of time in the sauce is overwhelming. I followed your recipe and when it was ready to sit down and eat the taste of the thyme was all we were able to taste. It was not the best taste either.
Anthony
reviewed Basic Tomato Sauce
no no no, carrots ARE revolting in a marinara gravey. There is no cuse for sweetness, sugar or otherwise in these sauces. And I must agree with the unbelievable amount of thyme in the sauce. Perhaps the chef would not feel this to be necessary if he had remembered to add some oregano to his ITALIAN cooking. Also, this sauce is lacking in peppers, both diced green peppers, one and a half tablespoons fresh ground black pepper, and a tiny bit of red pepper. Also, Marco Polo went to India and China for a reason. Do not forget to ad basil, cumin seed and other spices to your gravey.
DJP La Marca
reviewed Basic Tomato Sauce
I Agree with the masses . . . carrots have no place in a tomato sauce! Sweetness . . . fry the paste . . . don't add sugar . . . tomato sauce is not a dessert it should not be sweet! Non Italians making Salsa Pomodora!
Anthony
reviewed Basic Tomato Sauce
good call DJP
Anthony
reviewed Basic Tomato Sauce
a simmered down sauce gets rid of the acidity carrots arn't good at all
gloria
reviewed Basic Tomato Sauce
I am italian and this recipe was not anything like italian spaghetti sauce and we dont use oregano in sauce we use basil we also use beef broth
Pauly
reviewed Basic Tomato Sauce
Anyone calling it sauce when they mean gravy has no credibility anyway. Only one person on this review list called it gravy. This whole category is a sham!
Linda
reviewed Basic Tomato Sauce
I would not even try this recipe with carrots and thyme. We don't use oregano either. If you cook it long enough, there is no acid. Also I'm with Pauly, if you aren't calling it gravy, you don't know what you're doing anyway!!
mario
reviewed Basic Tomato Sauce
Actually, Mario Batali uses carrots in his recipe, which is very similar to this one, and it's damn good.
