Saucy
Joel DiPippa provides instructions for that sauce surroundin his shrimp.
Every Italian cook will tell you to have an all purpose tomato sauce recipe ready at the drop of the hat. This sauce has been in development for over 10 years derived from my parents' instruction, my friends' feedback, and knowledge gleaned from reading various cookbooks and watching much food TV. As requested from Bopbamboom, I share mine after the jump.
All-Purpose Red Sauce
This recipe is for a decent amount of sauce – enough for about a pound of pasta or 3-4 pizzas.
In a medium sauce pot, melt a pat of butter in a drizzle of olive oil over low heat.
Dice ½ an onion and rough chop 2 cloves of garlic.
Add to the the sauce pot.
After the onions and garlic have pleasantly softened and sweetened, add one can (28oz) of imported tomatoes, crushed. (Yes, I could spend the extra money and make a concasse to do it, but this is easier and quicker. I have had success with Kroger's imported Italian shelf for only a few pennies more than the domestic variety. If you want to splurge on the canned san marzano tomatoes, you will be rewarded). Add a good pinch of kosher salt, cracked black pepper to taste, and some good tomato paste to deepen the flavor. Turn the heat to medium for about 10 minutes and cook covered..
Reduce the heat to medium low and add several pinches of crushed red pepper flakes and a splash of vinegar, wine, vodka, or gin as you prefer. I add 2-3 drops of Subiaco's own <a href="http://www.arktimes..com/blogs/eatarkansas/2007/12/why_does_god_hate_the_belly_bo.aspx">Monk Sauce</a> at this point. Cook uncovered for about 5 minutes. Add your herbage, I usually use oregano, a little bit of basil, and a pinch of whatever herb I am playing with that week. Give it a taste and correct as needed while it simmers for another 5 minutes or so.
This is pretty much second nature to me by now. Dicing and onion and chopping the garlic are the most technical aspects of the recipe and the rest is just timing and portioning. It is easy to make small changes, such as substituting shallots for the onions or doing a full mire poix as the base. The amount of heat is easily controlled by the amount of pepper flakes, the Monk Sauce, or by adding some diced peppers. I have done some interesting things with grapefruit juice as the citrus in it when I was in a peculiar mood after a Monty Python marathon. The picture above is from January and had the shrimp added for the last five to seven minutes. It came out wonderfully.
Comments
Thanks...will have to try this one out.
Posted by: FoodDude![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.arktimes.com/blogs/eatarkansas/nav-commenters.gif)
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July 29, 2008 10:28 AM
Here's the recipe for basic tomato sauce Billy used at La Scala:
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2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
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2 tablespoons canola oil
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1 yellow onion, diced
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1 fennel bulb, diced
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3 cloves garlic
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2 teaspoons dried thyme
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1 sprig fresh rosemary, chopped
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1 cup white wine
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2 bay leaves, whole
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7 cans diced tomatoes, drained
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3 dashes agnostura bitters
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1/2 ounce fresh basil, chopped
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1/2 ounce fresh oregano, chopped
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1/2 ounce fresh sage, chopped
Saute the onion and fennel in the oil. When the vegetables are softening, add the the garlic, thyme and rosemary. continue to saute until aromatic. Add the white wine and bay leaves. Continue to cook until you cannot smell the alcohol any longer.
While the wine is reducing in the pot, process the tomatoes in a food processor until they are mostly smooth. Then add the tomatoes to the pot. Add the bitters and simmer for aproxximately 30 mins on low to medium heat. Stir often, but not continuously.
Remove from heat and allow to cool. when the sauce is warm, but not still hot, add the basil, oregano and sage. Let sit overnight.
To make meat sauce, add the cooked meat and a little cream.
Posted by: JG![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.arktimes.com/blogs/eatarkansas/nav-commenters.gif)
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July 29, 2008 12:13 PM
Joel-
Thank you so much. That is a really good recipe and pretty much is like unto the one I use. The best thing I like about tomato sauces is that you can play around w/it and hardly ever mess one up.
Never thought that to put gin in a red sauce but I will give it a try.
Posted by: bopbamboom![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.arktimes.com/blogs/eatarkansas/nav-commenters.gif)
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July 29, 2008 04:16 PM
BBB, think about the Gin like vodka but with an actual flavor and you can not only liberate the alcohol soluable compounds in the tomatoes but add more herbal and floral undertones to the sauce. Admittedly, the leftover M&R Vermouth from Bond night has been used most frequently as my cooking wine.
JG - I like my sauce with a bit more bite, as evidenced by my higher proportion of onions etc. used. I like the Angostura use, though. That intrigues me and I will have to try that on a smaller scale.
Posted by: Joel![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.arktimes.com/blogs/eatarkansas/nav-commenters.gif)
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July 31, 2008 01:14 PM