Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Cooking lesson: fresh tomato sauce

I spend the entire year anticipating tomato season; the kind you get at the grocery store, shipped from thousands of miles away, and which end up being watery and mealy, are hardly worth the label tomato, so I rarely get grocery store tomatoes. That means, for spaghetti sauces, I use canned tomatoes, and bide my time until late summer when the juiciest, meatiest, tastiest tomatoes come out from hiding. Because the season is going to be ending soon, I decided to savor it by making off with an abundance of Roma tomatoes from the Lincoln Square farmer's market last week with the intent to turn them into a sauce. So, dear reader, let me bestow upon you my love of cooking by giving you your first ever Chef Shelley lesson.
My tomatoes still had dirt on them so I washed them thoroughly and then set them out to dry.

Set a large pot of water on the stove to boil and then make shallow slits in the form of Xs on the bottom of each tomato.

Once the water is boiling and all the tomatoes have slits in them, drop them a few at a time into the water and let them sit there for approximately 1 minute or until you see the skin starting to peel back.

When all tomatoes are removed and cool enough to handle. Start peeling off the skin. This part is really messy so wear an apron!
Once all the skin is removed and discarded you may give the tomatoes a rough chop. No need to be precise because they're going to break down anyway in the cooking process. Make sure to place the colander over a bowl so you can collect all the flavorful tomato juice!
These are the ingredients I use in my fresh tomato sauce. Anchovies, dear reader, may be scary but once they are minced and melted in the pan, they impart a salty, meaty flavor known as umami and provide greater depth of flavor. Anchovies do not taste "fishy" at all, but if you are too freaked out by them, leave them out!
Mince about 5 or 6 anchovies, half of a carrot, 4 or 5 garlic cloves, and chop half a yellow onion.
Heat olive oil over medium low and toss the onion in the pan.

Once onions are sweated - you don't necessarily want to caramelize them - toss in the anchovies and carrot and turn the heat to low (if you haven't already). Once the anchovies are melted and the carrots are deeper in color, drizzle a little balsamic vinegar in the pan and scrape up the fond (browned bits) on the bottom of the pan.
Add a 10 ounce can of tomato paste and stir it in. Let cook about three or four minutes until it has deepened in color. I add red pepper flakes at this point for heat.

Add the tomato juice that has accumulated in the bowl beneath the chopped tomatoes.


Dump the colander of chopped tomatoes into the pan and squish them with a potato masher.



 Because the tomatoes are so juicy, the sauce can be a bit watery, so simmer the sauce with the lid off for an hour to an hour and a half so that it reduces. Be sure to stir while simmering. And once you're ready to eat it, toss some pasta (linguine is my favorite) into salted boiling water and cook. To the sauce, add some salt, pepper, a handful of parmesan, and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. Then toss with the pasta and eat!


I like to sprinkle some goat cheese on my spaghetti to add tang and creaminess to the dish.

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