Tomato Sauce 101
I’m all for convenience when it actually makes life simpler. But it’s always been a mystery to me why people buy those jars of wretched “spaghetti sauce” that line our supermarket shelves, when you can make real tomato sauce with only a tiny bit more time and effort.
I suspect that many people are simply confused. When you mention tomato sauce, they automatically think of that Sunday sauce—ragù—that takes elaborate preparation and hours of simmering on the stove. But an everyday tomato sauce—sugo di pomodoro—can be ready in as little as 15 minutes. That’s less time than it will probably take to bring water to the boil and cook your pasta. And, for the simplest sauces, all you need are canned or fresh tomatoes, olive oil and a clove of garlic.
There are countless variations of sugo di pomodoro in Italian cuisine, but there is a standard technique. You start by making a simple flavor base or soffritto by sautéing aromatic vegetables in olive oil, add tomato, salt and (if you like) a pinch of pepper, and simmer for 20-30 minutes. That’s it. Mostly the variations lie in the ingredients you choose for your soffritto and how long you let the sauce simmer.
So, without further ado, here are three “mother” sauces, together with two interesting recipes suggested by well-known Italian gastronomes, that you can use any time you feel like a nice bowl of pasta…