A better TOMATO SAUCE? Only in Italy !

Federico Fellini's movie, La Dolce Vita, was made in1960 at which time, I was too young to take an interest in such movies. My idea of "La Dolce Vita" was neighbourhood bicycling, road hockey or softball at the local park until the streets lights came on. Then, I had to head for home, or else there'd be hell to pay. As for the name, Federico Fellini...my italian buddies were Fausto Depede, Frank Oliverio and Sal Acciavatti...no Federico amongst the bunch.


I lived in an Italian neighbourhood and though I was Polish, we all fit in. I tasted good Italian spaghetti sauce only when I was invited to stay for dinner while playing with the Italian family's kids from down the street, the Stanghetta's. And boy, could their momma cook but she never went all out for us as we were just the kids on the block, and "mangia cakes" who wouldnt have known the difference between good tomato sauce and ketchup. I kind of resent that today as I know good ketchup...Heinz!!. So spaghetti with lots of sauce was just about it for us with Mrs. Stanghetta. If we got real lucky, we might get a meatball or two thrown in. But to a Polak kid, raised on kielbasa and pierogi, the sauce was out of this world. We may not haven known beans from fagioli in Italian cooking but we knew good tomato sauce when we were eating it. But Mrs. Stanghetta knew us even better...quantity always trumped quality with her neighbourhood kids.

Now however, watch out! I am an "Italian wannabe" by marriage. I speak the language but only paid Italian waiters and bartenders understand me really well and compliment my linguistic skills! I wonder if it could be because of the tips I leave which makes my Italian so good, according to them.

So I offer you the best basic Italian sauce ever. You'd have to fly to Italy to get better and in that case, I can recommend a few places, but not in Rome! That's another story!

I learned how to make this sauce from an Italian chef, Mario Folco who owns his own Italian bistro in Markham, Ontario. His tomato sauce is outstanding and when I tasted it, I asked Mario if he would let me work for him, gratis, instead just teach me how to make his marvelous sauce.

And now....ecco...


The BEST Tomato Sauce outside of Italy !

INGREDIENTS

The amounts you choose to use will depend on total volume of sauce that you want to make. Exact measurement isn't crucial to this recipe. Preparation is.

4  28 oz cans...san marzano tomatoes FROM ITALY* (see below)

2  lge fresh onion (white), finely chopped

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (adjust volume of oil as you desire...I find this amount ideal)

6  fresh garlic cloves, finely chopped

1⁄4 cup dried basil

1-2 tbs salt

1 tbs ground black pepper

OPTIONAL Ingredients
2 tbs dried oregano
1-2 pinches of chili flakes

*Preparation of TOMATOES

Canned tomatoes are your best bet unless you grow your own and know when to pick them for optimum sweetness. SAN MARZANO canned tomatoes are Italy's best, but any canned tomato, especially any from NAPLES, is fine. Canned tomatoes are a good choice because the tomatoes have been picked at their peak maturity and processed very quickly. This means you are getting tomatoes that are at their peak of sweetness and taste.

Open the can and blend the tomatoes with a hand blender. This step can also be done about mid-way into the cooking process where you will also be pureeing the onions and garlic (if you used garlic) and you can do it in a large pot. You kitchen walls won't likely be sprayed quite as much.

Add the basil, (oregano if you chose to use it), salt and pepper

On the stove

Fry the finely chopped onions in a skillet with the olive oil until they are golden, but not dark.

As the onions start to become translucent, add the chopped garlic, if you are using it, so it will blend its essence with the olive oil and onions.

When the onions are golden, add your tomatoes and now puree this mixture with the hand blender. Gently simmer all ingredients on the stove for 2 hrs, at which point the tomato sauce will thicken, as if by magic. One moment, liquidy, the next moment, a nice thick sauce. I am amazed by this very timely transformation every time I make this sauce.

And ecco, you now have what I like to call my "mother sauce" which means it can be used for pizza sauce, as a pasta sauce, a sauce for veal or Italian sausage braising. It is simply a great base for other dishes. But watch out, this sauce is deadly. Taste a bit, and you will be bread dipping into it, depleting your volume incredibly quickly.

Buon appetito and visit back !