Homemade Tomato Sauce

Prep Time 10 minutes Cook Time 1 hour

A fresh homemade tomato sauce is a must! Make it in bulk, freeze the left over's and pull it out for those busy nights when you don't have time to cook. Chef Helen Cavallo shares her recipe for a fresh homemade tomato sauce - perfect for your favorite pasta. http://goo.gl/LtgIi

by Helen Cavallo

What you'll need

• 2 carrots, diced
• 2 stalks of celery, diced
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 8 plum tomatoes
• 2/3 cups of water
• 1/2 cup of red wine
• 1 cup of freshly torn basil leaves
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt (or to taste)
• 1/4 teaspoon of chili flakes (or to taste)

How to make it

1. Start by dicing your carrots, stalks of celery and onion. Mince your garlic. Drizzle olive oil to coat the bottom of the pot and cook over medium heat until warm.
2. Add ingredients and allow them to sweat but not brown. The vegetables will literally begin to look like they’re sweating, releasing their juices... the longer you cook them without allowing them to turn brown the better the flavor.
3. Add salt and a pinch of chili flakes.
4. In a separate stock pot, boil water. Cut little "x's" into the tops of the tomatoes (bottom side, not where the stem is). Place them directly into the boiling water for approx 2 minutes.
5. When they're done, take them out of the pot and plunge them into a bowl of ice and water too cool.
6. Once the tomatoes are cooled, remove them from the water. You'll notice that the skins are separating from the flesh. Remove all the skin and coarsely chop the tomatoes.
7. Add tomatoes to the pot with celery, carrots, onion and garlic. Add in water & wine, and stir. Allow to cook over medium low heat until the water reduces down and the flavors start to meld together, about 45 minutes -- 1 hour.
8. Add torn basil leaves and stir.
9. Congratulations folks, you just make a simple homemade tomato sauce from scratch. You can add THAT to your bag of tricks! I like my sauce chunky but if you like it smoother, you can always puree it in your blender.