Tomato Sauce Recipe

Auguste Escoffier included Sauce Tomate in his list of the five mother sauces of French sauces. Sauce Tomate is made with seeded tomatoes, which are stewed with seasonings, garlic and parsley.

This is one of my favorite tomato sauces and the simplest to make. You can prepare it either with good quality tinned tomatoes, preferably Italian plum, or when in season fresh ripe tomatoes. It tastes good with all kinds of pasta and gnocchi.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 80 minutes
Yield: 3 cups / 720 ml

Ingredients
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
3 to 4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
1 small stalk celery, washed and finely chopped
1 small carrot, peeled and finely chopped
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 (32 oz) cans Italian Plum crushed tomatoes
2 bay leaves                         

Preparation steps:

In a large casserole pot, heat oil over medium high heat. Add onion and garlic and sauté until soft and translucent, about 5 to 10 minutes. Add celery and carrots.  Season with salt and pepper. Sauté until all the vegetables are soft, about 5 to 10 minutes. Add tomatoes and bay leaves and simmer uncovered on low heat for 1 hour or until thick. Remove bay leaves and check for seasoning. If sauce still tastes acidic, add a pinch of sugar at a time to round out the flavors.

Pass the sauce through a food mill or chop it with a hand blender, taste and rectify seasoning to taste.

 When not using all the sauce, allow it to cool completely and pour 1 to 2 cup portions into freezer plastic bags. This will freeze up to 3 months.