Quick Tomato Sauce
Here's the list of ingredients:
- 1 28 ounce can of whole tomatoes (not diced or pureed)
- 2 stalks of celery
- half of a white onion
- 1 or 2 carrots (depending on size)
- A pinch of good salt
- A few cloves of garlic
- 2 or 3 bay leaves, and dried oregano and dried parsley (yes, dried)
- 2 table spoons of brown sugar
- A small pinch (or a large one) of chili flakes
- 2 table spoons of sherry vinegar, rice wine vinegar, or brown rice vinegar
Begin by straining the liquid from the canned tomatoes into a pot. We are going to keep this for later. While not necessary, it is best to open the tomatoes and remove the seeds from inside. Seeds make sauce bitter. I just do this in the sink and let the tomatoes drain back into the pot.
Once the draining is done, set the tomatoes aside and add the vinegar, the brown sugar, and all of the herbs and spices to the tomato juice. Bring it to a boil, mix everything, and turn the heat down. You want to let it simmer until it reduces by half in volume and gets thicker. This is the sauce base.
While the sauce is reducing, begin cutting the veggies into small pieces, called a brunois. Basically, 2 to 3 mm sized cubes. I suck at this, compared to my brother, but it gets the job done. When everything is chopped, put the carrots, celery, onions, and minced garlic, along with the tomatoes, on a sheet pan and bring it to a sweat with a bit of oil. You just want to heat it until the veggies are soft.
When they are soft, put them into a 375F degree oven until they start to caramelize. Golden brown and delicious. The idea is to drive off the water from the tomatoes to concentrate the flavour. This may take 20 to 30 minutes, so watch it carefully.
Once the sauce is reduced by half and the veggies have browned in the oven, combine the two in the pot with the sauce. Remove the bay leaf, stir, and taste. Season if you need to, and serve. Chunky for some things, but you can puree it for a sauce if needed.
