Ingredients: |
Ingredients: Mother Sauce Ingredients:
You can substitute my Marinara 2015 recipe here -- I am leaving this hear because it is a little bit less labor intensive, but not nearly as good.
1 28 oz (large) Can of Whole, Pealed, Roma (Plum) Tomatoes (or a dozen or so homemade)
1 Small Can Tomato Paste (have a second handy, just in case)
1 (or more) Small Cans of tomato sauce. These are just in case you need to fix the consistency.
1 Large, 2 Small, Bell Peppers (you pick the color)
1 Medium Onion (you pick the color)
1 Bunch Fresh Thyme
1 Bunch Fresh Oregano
1 Bunch Fresh Rosemary
1 Bunch Fresh Basel
1 Bay Leave (Bay Laurel)
1/2 Large Head of Garlic, smashed, paper removed, you don't have to dice it
Salt & Pepper
Red Pepper Flakes to taste (Optional), about a Teaspoon for me
1 Cup Red Wine (I like Chianti)
EVOO
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Directions: |
Directions:Mother Sauce Directions:
Process the tomatoes: I like to smoosh the tomatoes by hand, but you can also run them through a food mill. I like to have fun, make a mess. Cooking is FUN to me!
Over Medium heat, sauté, use plenty of EVOO here, the onions, bell peppers in a large heavy pot – I am spoiled and use my Anodized Aluminum Slow Cooker pot for this, but a Dutch Oven, or something like that would work too. Add the garlic at the end.
Add the processed tomatoes and stir.
Add the tomato paste and stir.
Add the red wine.
Check the consistency. If it is a bit thin, remember that it will cook down, so don't mess with it right then – let it cook a while. If it is too thick or lumpy, like you might like a finished product for Linguini, thin with the canned sauce, or wine. You want; coat the back of a spoon, not a glob.
Add the fresh herbs, salt and pepper. I tie up the Rosemary and Bay Leave in cheese cloth so I can get 100% of them out later.
Simmer on the stove, covered, for about 4 hours, or I like to use my slow cooker for about 6 hours. Check and stir and adjust consistency as needed.
Once you get to that; "My house smells wonderful and it looks yummy!" stage (hopefully you were weak and have tasted it all along too), get out the boat motor. After letting the sauce cool to the point of not being a burn threat while blending it, remove the herbs, except the Basel, and run the immersion blender through the sauce so that gets close to the consistency of a store bought Marinara sauce.
Your Mother (Base) Sauce is done.
About the only thing I can think of that the Base Sauce is good for in this state is vegetarian lasagna. Below are a few ideas for sprucing up, enhancing, this sauce for other purposes.
Hearty Meat Sauce:
Brown a total of 1 1/2 Pounds of meat; Ground Beef, Ground Pork, Ground Veal, Italian Sausage, you pick. Drain most of the fat, leave some to sauté the vegetables. Obviously you can use Meat Balls or chunks of Sausage instead of loose browned meats.
Sauté one more bell pepper and 1/2 of an onion. You might want to consider some Brown, Crimini, Baby Bella, mushrooms too – I like the way mushrooms go in a meat sauce. But then again, I LOVE mushrooms!
Mix with the Base Sauce and enjoy!
Hearty Vegetable Sauce:
I actually like this more than the meat sauce. I get to put together LOTS of stuff.
Bell Pepper, Mushrooms, Zucchini, Egg Plant, Onion
Those are a must for me. How much? One of each, at least. Oh, with the egg plant I normally just use the seeded section from the big belly part. I don't think it's worth the effort to get the rest of it. It's not that expensive after all.
Spinach; chopped, Olives; green or black
These are optional for me.
Sometimes I roast, sometimes I sauté, sometimes I just throw everything in and let it cook for a few more hours in the sauce. It depends on my mood.
Pizza Sauce:
You actually could use the Base Sauce as is for making pizzas, but I like mine a little more dense. So, I add one more can of tomato paste and then simmer on higher heat, or the high setting in my slow cooker, UNCOVERED for a couple of hours so that it reduces some. This will make enough to make quite a few pizzas. Fortunately, it freezes quite well.
American Bachelor Sauce: (My Cruise Ship friend Darryl turned me on to this.)
1 Cup of Catsup if you are going to alter a full batch of the Base Sauce. I normally do this with smaller, leftover, amounts of the Base Sauce, so I adjust down.
1 Table Spoon of A-1 Steak sauce, or your brand.
1 Table Spoon of Worcestershire Sauce
1 Table Spoon of chili powder, the cheep stuff
1 Table Spoon of Lemon Pepper
Just add this stuff to the Bass Sauce and warm though, everything you just added has been cooked.
Try on leftovers, plain Elbow Macaroni or other bachelor delights… I hope this last sauce idea did not gross you out. |
This recipe for FJR's Mother (Base) Sauce and Variations is from