Tomato Sauce

Yeah, it's late Saturday night and I am posting recipes on the internet. Sigh. How sad.

Anyhoo... My usual tomato sauce recipe is from Alton Brown (Good Eats) you can find it here. It's pretty fool proof and I like the way it comes out.

But when I have an abundance of fresh Roma tomatoes I make a filetto sauce. You can't make it with anything other than fresh Romas (or other paste type tomatoes). I tried it once with store bought tomatoes - and it ended up way too watery. And if you cook off all the extra liquid, you lose the fresh tomato taste.

So, here's the recipe:

2 Tablespoons of olive oil
2 cloves of garlic finely minced

Put the garlic and oil in a pan cold, cook over medium low heat until the garlic starts to sizzle. I found that starting with a cold pan and applying the heat slowly extracts a lot more flavor from the garlic.

Once the garlic starts to sizzle (and way before it browns) add:

1 1/2 teaspoons of salt
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh oregano (or 1 teaspoon dried)

Cook until the onions are translucent - about 7 minutes over medium heat. The add:

2 lbs fresh Roma tomatoes, milled
1 teaspoon sugar
some basil leaves sliced fine

Simmer for up to 1/2 hour - no longer.

Before serving add:

1 splash vodka
more basil, salt, and pepper to taste

If it ends up too runny (which happens if the tomatoes were not absolutely fresh) do not try to cook it down, you'll lose the really fresh tomato taste. You can save it by adding a cream bechamel:

In a separate saucepan

2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour

Cook over medium heat until bubbly

Add 8 ounces heavy cream

Bring to a boil stirring constantly. It will get really thick (but that's the point).

Add to filetto sauce (turning into a tomato vodka cream sauce, which is something completely different - but really good, too). Add some grated parmesan cheese and serve over pasta.