johnl (10/27/82)
I have experimented a great deal with tomato sauce for pizza and such,
and my best result so far goes something like this:
Gently heat a large (28 oz) can of tomato puree, to avoid scorching. Put in
a lot of basil, like about four tablespoons full. Fresh basil is much
better but use what you can. Use your garlic press and squeeze in as much
garlic as you want (I like garlic, use about half a head.) Add oregano,
pepper, red pepper, thyme and salt to taste. If it's too thin, stir in a
little tomato paste until you're happy. Use, or eat.
Important notes. Don't use garlic salt or any other kind of garlic that
comes in a bottle. Nobody can bottle it without making it smell rancid
(this may be why many dislike garlic, it's the only kind they've ever met.)
Invest $4.50 in a garlic press, it's well worth it. Smell the garlic at the
store before you buy it, it's often rancid already. Go easy on the tomato
paste, because it can be overpowering.
Something else that works is to put a little olive oil in a pan, heat,
stir in tomato paste, saute briefly and continue as above, perhaps using
water instead of or in addtion to puree. Cutting up some onions very fine
and cooking them in the olive oil first is not a bad idea. I'm now
looking at adding chunks of plum tomato. The absolute best sauce is made
starting with fresh plum tomatoes but here in Boston you can only get them
about three days a year.
John Levine, IECC, PO Box 349, Cambridge MA 02238; (617) 491-5450
decvax!cca!ima!johnl, harpo!esquire!ima!johnl, ucbvax!cbosgd!ima!johnl,
yale-co!jrl (all uucp), Levine@YALE (Arpa).
PS: If you think that I should have told you to put the contents of the
28oz can of puree in a pot before heating it, you'd probably be happier with
a bottle of Aunt Millie's.
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