“Anelletti al forno”: our scrumptious baked Sicilian pasta
agosto 16, 2011
Pasta with squash, our summer & fall “minestra”
settembre 30, 2011
The making of tomato sauce or tomato passata (in Italian salsa di pomodoro) definetely reminds me of my childhood Summers spent in our country-house along with my family and my maternal grandparents.
My mum and my grandma sometimes were doing the “salsa” (literally means sauce and when we say the word alone it only means tomato sauce).
I used to watch the process, not the entire one though, as it was very long and after a while I inevitably got bored and went out playing. So it is more correct to say I was coming and going from the kitchen all day long.
It took me just an afternoon (cooking time included) and the result was great! I was so proud of it 🙂
Ingredients & Preparation:
1 kg ripen tomatoes
1 onion
1 full teaspoon of salt
1/2 spoon of caster sugar
black pepper
olive oil
fresh basil
cinnamon in powder
nutmeg
1. Wash the tomatoes under running water, then roughly cut them and put them in a sauce pan together with the sliced onion. Let cook the two together for about 30 minutes on a very low heat with a lit.
2. After that it’s time to mash them up. To help you speed up the process you can first blend the mix; this will facilitate the squeezing phase.
3. To squeeze them put them in a strainer. I have an electric tomato strainer (or squeezer… I am not sure how you exactly call it) so it’s very easy (See the pic here on the left). When you have finished the squeezing phase, the liquid that you have gathered in the sauce pan is very watery and needs to be reduced to the proper thickness of the tomato sauce, so it has to cook again on a very low heat for at least two hours and half or until it is not watery anymore.
4. As soon as the liquid is becoming more and more “sauce” than water add all the ingredients to make it tasty: salt, sugar, a pinch of black pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon and some fresh leaves of basil. Taste it and adjust with salt and sugar if needed.
In the end add also a drizzle of extravergin olive oil… and that’s pretty much it, your fresh homemade tomato sauce is ready!!!
You can use it on your pasta, bruschettas, pizza or wherever you like. You will be proud too! 😉
Enjoy!
6 Comments
The process of sun-drying gives this tomato paste a richer, deeper and more concentrated tomato flavor. It has an earthy, smoky, and sweet jam-like flavor. This quality tomato paste is somewhat rare and expensive and is usually sold in tubes.
You are talking about extract, this is a tomato sauce. Two different things in Sicilian cuisine 🙂
So delicious!
Hi Suzanne, really glad you like it. Hope to read you back soon 🙂
I was really happy to find your blog and this recipe. I was told the other day by fellow American of nondescript nationality that I do not know how to make Sauce, because it shouldn't have Cinnamon in it. My Sicilian grandmother put it in her sauce and so I put it in mine. Needless to say we had words because he was trying to tell Me how to properly make sauce LOL
Hi Luna, thank you so much for your comment. Tell your fellow American of nondescript nationality to spend at least a year in sicily before they can talk correctly about Sicilian food.
Have a great week end and keep reading my posts :))