I make tomato sauce a bunch of different ways. I’m calling this one Winter Tomato Sauce because most of the year I use real peeled tomatoes to make sauce. In the winter I used nothing fresh. This is a very basic tomato sauce recipe that differs from marinara. Tomato sauce is more complex than the quicker cooked marinara sauce. Today I used canned tomatoes and dried herbs. This sauce came out slightly spicy after I reduced it ( I usually don’t measure but today I did)……If you are very sensitive to heat you should cut the amount of black pepper and cherry peppers slightly…..you can always add back more pepper at the end. This recipe makes a really BIG GIANT BATCH of sauce and you will have to freeze it in portions. My regular tomato sauce is very similar. For that I use fresh tomatoes with skins removed and I concentrate the tomatoes in a low oven all day (8 hours or so) before I make sauce. I use some dried herbs and at the end I add some fresh herbs.
Ingredients for about 20 portions
4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
8 hot/sweet jarred cherry pepper – chopped fine
1 medium sweet onion – chopped fine
1 Tablespoon ground black pepper
2 Tablespoons course sea salt
1 cup dry white wine
5 bay leaves
6 oz tomato paste
6 garlic cloves – ground to paste or microplane
6lb 6oz (one #10 can) ground tomatoes in puree
6 cups water
2 Tablespoons dried basil
Directions
Put a BIG sauce pot in medium high heat with the olive oil. When oil is hot add the cherry peppers, onion, salt and black pepper. When the onions look soft add the wine and bay leaves. Let it cook a couple minutes and add the tomato paste. Stir the tomato paste all around and when it looks slightly thickened add the garlic. Reduce the heat to medium. Stir that around and when you can smell it then add the can of tomatoes the water and the basil. Stir occasionally. In a while the sauce will boil but you want it to slowly simmer so you will be turning down the heat to around medium low….and eventually to low. Cover the pot half way with foil so the sauce doesn’t jump out on the wall. Let it simmer 3-4 hours. Tomorrow the sauce will taste sweeter so resist adding sugar. For best results use the next day. Freeze and portion whatever you aren’t using.
