Fresh Tomato Sauce

Spaghetti with Fresh Tomato Sauce & Smoked Mozzarella
<handmade ceramic bowl courtesy of emogayu >

This is one of my rare posts that have nothing to do with Korean food (well, almost).

It's also one of my old rituals. Long before I had access to tomatoes from the garden, I started making my own tomato sauce using only fresh tomatoes and now I can't remember the last time I bought one in a jar. There are so many variations of homemade tomato sauce, and this is just my own version based on the ingredients I have at home and what I like. And that changes slightly from time to time, but its simplicity stays throughout. Even for the storage of the sauce, while I'm aware that homemade tomato sauce in a pretty mason jar would look so much better, this is how I store the sauce and it works for me.

Recently, my ready access to tomatoes led me to several conversations about making fresh tomato sauce at home.

"Just sauté onion, garlic, oregano or Italian seasoning, then add lots of chopped tomatoes and simmer until everything's soft."

"Really? You don't add any stock or water?"

"No, but you can add wine." "And red pepper flakes. Oh, and gochujang (고추장 - Korean red pepper paste) is nice too."

So, that's really how the steps go. But I saw that I was creating some confusion with somewhat unusual options I was providing. So maybe writing down a loose recipe might help.

To make about 5 servings -

INGREDIENTS)

1 T Olive oil
1                 Onion, medium-sized, peeled and chopped
10 cloves     Garlic, peeled and thinly sliced or minced (I like lots of garlic!)
1 T              Fresh oregano, chopped (about 4 sprigs)
                  (You can substitute with 1/2 T Dried oregano or Italian seasoning)
Optional) 1~2 t Red pepper flakes (I use gochugaru which I always have
                   at home for making kimchi) and/or
                   2 t Gochujang (고추장 - Korean red pepper paste)
Optional) 1/3 C Wine (white or red)
5~7          Tomatoes, medium-sized, rinsed, cored and chopped
To taste      Salt & Pepper

DIRECTIONS)

* Drizzle oil in a pot over medium heat. Add onion, garlic and a pinch of salt and sauté until onion turns transluscent.

* Add oregano and, if you're adding, red pepper flakes (gochugaru 고추가루 in my version). Although not in this version, feel free to add gochujang (고추장 - Korean red pepper paste). I don't care what you say, gochujang adds a kick and a gentle nudge towards a nice red color. Stir to mix. Sauté for another minute.

* If you're adding wine, add it now and turn up the heat to high. Stir often to make sure the bottom of the pot is not burning. Reduce until there is almost no liquid left. White wine keeps the sauce color bright, whereas red wine deepens the color. Instead of following the exact measurement, make sure you add enough wine so that it barely covers the ingredients. Don't pour too much just because you like lots of wine, the sauce turns too acidic and crosses over the realm of flavor balance you can't bring back. This point is brought to you by my personal mistakes.

* Add chopped tomotoes and stir to mix with the rest of the ingredients. Lower the heat to medium-low and let it simmer for 40 minutes to an hour. When everything has become soft and almost mushy, turn off the heat and let rest for 10 minutes.

* Taste and adjust seasoning. If it's too acidic, add a pinch of salt to balance it out.

* Feel free to blend the sauce to a smooth consistency using an immersion blender.

* For storage, let the sauce cool to room temperature. Since this recipe makes only for about 5 servings, you might want to just keep it in the refrigerator. For me, I don't eat pasta too often (I have too much Korean food to eat!) so I keep it in the freezer. Line a bowl with a plastic bag. Add the sauce in the plastic bag and seal it with no (okay, few) air bubbles. Freeze the the plastic bag flattened. Just break a piece for your pasta sauce and heat it up when you need it.

For this one (picture on top), I also added smoked mozzarella at the end when I mixed pasta in the sauce.

TIPS!

You can also improvise to make it a meat sauce or seafood sauce from this basic tomato sauce. It's better to thaw the sauce in the microwave first. You can use pasta water if you need additional liquid.

For a meat sauce, sauté ground meat or chopped sausage until nicely browned, then add this tomato sauce to simmer.

For a seafood sauce, bring the tomato sauce up to a boil. Add seafood that doesn't require much cooking time (such as squid, shrimp, small clams) and let it simmer over medium-low heat until seafood is cooked.

RELATED POSTS