How Do Some of My Favorite Chefs Prepare Their Basic Tomato Sauces?
It’s summertime, and my vines are full of delicious tomatoes. This year we have beefsteak, heirloom, cherry, and plum tomatoes, ripening faster than we can pick.
Of course, there are too many of these nightshade delights than we can use in Caprese Salads or Tuscan Bread Salads so it’s time to make homemade tomato sauce like the recipe for Basic Tomato Sauce. I also thought it would be fun to look at how a few of my favorite celebrity chefs make their basic tomato sauces.
I pulled down four fantastic cookbooks from the shelves and researched how Marc Vetri, Patricia Wells, Marcella Hazan, and Lidia Matticchio Bastianich prepare homemade tomato sauce from scratch.
I’m talking about a basic sauce without a lot of ingredients. Instead, think of a base sauce that can be used to create other classic tomato-based sauces or by itself, all alone on top of a serving of pasta.
Before I started looking at their recipes, I figured they would all be pretty much the same and similar, but there were many subtle differences, as you’ll see below.
Marc Vetri
One of my favorite Philadelphia chefs! Marc spent time in Bergamo, Italy working and learning to cook Italian food. Here is his version of a basic tomato sauce from his cookbook, il viaggio di Vetri.
📖 Recipe
Chef Marc Vetri's Basic Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 small onion finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 29 ounces plum tomatoes with juice cored and crushed by hand (8 – 12 fresh plum tomatoes, skins removed, cored and crushed by hand)
- salt & freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat, and when hot, add the onion and sauté for about 4 minutes.
- Add the garlic and cook for an additional 1 minute.
- Add the tomatoes with any juices and crush them lightly.
- Bring the sauce to a simmer, reduce heat to low, and continue simmering for 45 minutes or until the tomatoes fall apart.
Patricia Wells
Very similar to Chef Vetri’s tomato sauce except in her cookbook, Trattoria, she adds a bouquet garni or a bundle of herbs tied together to enhance the flavor of the sauce and more garlic. I would call this a marinara sauce rather than a tomato sauce.
📖 Recipe
Patricia Wells Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 small onion minced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- sea salt to taste
- 28 ounces tomato peeled Italian plum or crushed
- 2 sprigs fresh parsley
- 2 bay leaves
- celery leaves
Instructions
- Tie the fresh parsley, bay leaves, and celery leaves in a bundle with cotton twine.
- Chef Wells starts in an unheated saucepan, adds the oil, onion, garlic, and salt, and stirs to coat with oil. Over moderate heat, she cooks these ingredients until the garlic turns golden but does not brown, about 2 to 3 minutes.
- If using whole canned tomatoes, first puree them using a food mill. If you don’t have a food mill, try using a blender or food processor. The same would be true if you are using fresh tomatoes. If using crushed tomatoes, they can be added directly from the can.
- Add the bundle of herbs, stir and simmer uncovered until the sauce thickens, about 15 minutes.
- Remove the herb bundle and taste, and adjust the seasoning with salt.
Notes
Marcella Hazan
In the great Marcella Hazan’s, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, I learned some great tips on preparing a simple tomato sauce, but hers’ was the first one I came across for preparing fresh tomatoes for the sauce.
First the Tips
- “Never cook a sauce in a covered pan, or it will emerge with a bland, steamed weakly formulated taste.” Her reasoning has to do with evaporation, which “concentrates and clearly defines their flavor.” I guess this rules out a lot of crock-pot tomato sauce recipes.
- “Always taste a sauce before tossing the pasta with it. If it seems barely salty enough on its own, it’s not salty enough for the pasta.”
- If fresh, fully ripened plum tomatoes are available use them. If not, “it is better to use canned imported Italian plum tomatoes.”
- Cooking times will vary on the amount of sauce you are making and the size and shape of the pot. A deep, narrow pot will take longer than a broad and shallow pan.
- You’ll know when it’s done by its density. You don’t want it too thick or too watery and “the tomato must lose its raw taste, without losing sweetness or freshness.”
- If a tomato sauce has butter as an ingredient, it’s important to “toss the pasta with an additional tablespoon of fresh butter; if it has olive oil, drizzle with raw olive oil while tossing.”
Preparing Fresh Tomatoes
According to Ms. Hazan, you must first prepare fresh tomatoes before using them to make a sauce. She offers two methods:
- Blanch the tomatoes in boiling water for about a minute, drain them, and as soon as you can handle them, remove their skins. I’ve learned years ago that if you score the skins with an X, they peel more easily.
- Cut the tomatoes lengthwise in half and put them into a covered saucepan. Cook them for 10 minutes over medium heat. Using a food mill and the disk with the largest holes, puree the tomatoes and their juices into a bowl.
Marsala Hazan’s simple tomato sauce differs from the first two because she uses butter instead of olive oil and doesn’t use garlic. She also cooks with two halves of an onion but removes and discards them before tossing them with pasta. Hmmm, I can’t wait to give this one a try.
📖 Recipe
Marcella Hazan's Fresh Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 pounds fresh tomatoes make sure they are ripe and prepped as described above or 2 cups canned imported Italian plum tomatoes, cut up, with their juices.
- 5 tablespoons butter
- 1 medium onion peeled and cut in half
- salt
Instructions
- Put the tomatoes and their juice in a large saucepan, and add the butter, onion, and salt. Bring to a simmer and cook uncovered slowly for 45 minutes or “until the fat floats free from the tomato.”
- Be sure to stir from time to time and crush any large pieces of tomato into small pieces with a spoon.
- Taste and adjust seasoning with salt. Remove and discard the onion halves before tossing them with pasta.
Lidia Matticchio Bastianich
One of my favorite television celebrity chefs, Chef Lidia describes in her book, Lidia Cooks From The Heart OF Italy, the difference between a marinara sauce and a tomato sauce. I always thought they were different names for the same thing but I am wrong.
According to Lidia, a marinara is a quick sauce, seasoned with only garlic, pepper, and a little basil or oregano if desired. The tomatoes are left in chunks and the texture of the sauce is “fairly loose”.
A tomato sauce is way more complex and starts with pureed tomatoes that are seasoned with onion, carrot, celery and a bay leaf then simmered until thickened to the desired thickness. So let’s look at Lidia’s tomato sauce or salsa di Pomodoro.
Lidia’s tomato sauce is similar to Marc Vetris’ and Patricia Wells’ except she substitutes carrot and celery for the garlic, uses bay leaves for flavoring, and pepperoncino flakes to spice it up some. I’ve made this sauce many times and it’s one of my favorites.
📖 Recipe
Lidia Bastianich's Tomato Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 pounds ripe plum tomatoes peeled and seeded or one 35-ounce can peeled Italian plum tomatoes, seeded and lightly crushed. Reserve liquids.
- ¼ cup olive oil extra virgin
- 1 small onion chopped
- ¼ cup carrots peeled and finely shredded
- 2 each dried bay leaves
- salt Kosher, to taste
- peperoncino flakes hot pepper flakes, to taste
Instructions
- Using a food mill, but this time fitted with a fine disk, pass the tomatoes and their juices through and into a bowl.
- Heat a large “nonreactive” saucepot over medium heat, add oil, and when hot, add the onion. Cook, frequently stirring, until the onion is “wilted,” about 3 minutes.
- Add the carrot and celery and continue cooking for about 10 minutes until the onion is golden brown.
- Add the tomato pulp, the juices, and the bay leaves and bring to a boil. As soon as the sauce reaches a boil, lower the heat to a “lively simmer” and cook until the sauce thickens to desired thickness or about 45 minutes. Be sure to continue stirring throughout the entire process.
- Before serving with pasta, remove the bay leaves, taste, and adjust seasoning with salt and pepperoncino pepper.
Chef Ricco DeLuca's Basic Tomato Sauce
Chef Ricco is a celebrity chef in my eyes. We met many years ago when he was cooking for a wedding I was attending and we became friends when I wandered into his kitchen. Ricco has forgotten more about Italian cooking than I will ever learn.
His mom cooked for Frank Sinatra and his family for years and taught Ricco how to cook. I asked him for his basic tomato sauce recipe and if I could share it with my readers. Here it is.
📖 Recipe
Basic Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
Sachet
- 2 bay leaves
- 8 black peppercorns
- 1 tablespoon dried basil
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon dried thyme
Sauce
- 1½ bulbs garlic peeled and chopped
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 #10 cans tomatoes 102 oz. each including juice
- 5 cups chicken stock
- 3 tablespoons sugar
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large heavy-bottomed pot and sauté the garlic. Be careful not to burn the garlic; it will ruin the sauce.
- Drain the tomatoes reserving the juice.
- While the garlic is cooking, start the de-seeding process and add to the pot when the garlic is golden. Then, keep de-seeding the tomatoes and add the pulp to the pot.
- Add the reserved tomato juice, Sachet, chicken stock, and sugar.
- Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until the sauce is reduced by half. This will take anywhere from 2-3 hours, stirring every once in a while.
- When the sauce is finished, remove the Sachet.
This may seem like a lot of work because it is, but I know you will be pleased with the outcome. The problem is you won’t be able to eat canned tomato sauce again. Not the worst that could happen! Enjoy. RG
Chef Mark Vogel's Tomato Sauce Recipe
Chef Mark also isn't what you would consider a celebrity chef but he is an excellent food writer I became friends with years ago. I consider him a great source of knowledge when it comes to anything about food.
Here is Mark's personal favorite quick and easy tomato sauce that works with his eggplant Parmesan but as a base for lots of recipes.
📖 Recipe
Simple Tomato Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 36 ounce can whole plum tomatoes
- 1 carrot small dice
- 1 celery stick small dice
- 1 small onion diced
- olive oil as needed
- salt and pepper to taste
- 3 garlic cloves chopped
- 4 ounces red or white wine
- 8 ounces beef stock
- 1 handful fresh parsley chopped
Instructions
- Place a fine mesh strainer over a bowl. Split open each tomato over the strainer and remove the seeds, as they can add bitterness to the sauce.
- Place the seeded tomatoes in another bowl. Reserve the juice in the first bowl from seeding the tomatoes and the juice left in the can.
- Sweat the carrot, celery, and onion in olive oil with salt and pepper on low/medium heat until soft. Add the garlic and cook one more minute.
- Deglaze the pan with the wine and reduce until it reaches a syrupy consistency.
- Add all of the reserved tomato juices and the stock. Bring to a simmer and reduce by at least half. But, of course, a little more won't hurt.
- Add the reserved tomatoes and cook for 5-10 minutes on low heat. With an immersion blender, puree the sauce until smooth.
- Finish with the parsley and additional salt and pepper if needed.
That's It For Now
Which one you choose to try is a matter of personal preference but I think I'll try them all and see which one I enjoy the most. I'm sure there are hundreds if not thousands of variations for these basic tomato sauces depending on where you come from and the fresh ingredients available.
I'll be keeping my eye out for more variations from celebrity chefs and share them with you here or in another article down the road. In the meantime, please tell me your favorite celebrity chef's basic tomato sauce recipe so I can check it out.
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