The Best Tomato Sauce I’ve Ever Made
There’s nothing quite as special as making tomato sauce from scratch - except maybe eating tomato sauce made from scratch (especially if someone else makes it). But you’re here because you like to cook, and what’s the fun in eating other people’s food? The tomatoes roast in the oven while you make the rest of the sauce. Getting the onions soft and caramelized is really the only laborious task, besides slicing the onions (and crying).
Homemade Tomato Sauce
4-5 medium to large tomatoes halved crosswise
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Black pepper and Kosher sea salt
1/4 cup diced pancetta (optional, but recommended)
1 medium red onion thinly sliced*
4 canned or jarred anchovy fillets
4-5 big garlic cloves minced or grated
5-6 kalamata olives crushed or smashed to a paste
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp honey (optional to cut acidity and sweeten sauce a little)
1/3 cup dry vermouth
1/2 pound fettuccine, bucatini, or rigatoni****
2 quarts of fresh water to boil pasta
2 tsp salt for the pasta water
Delicious additions:
6-8 oz sliced mushrooms (any kind you like)**
1/2 lb lean ground beef or meatballs***
Roast the tomatoes.
Lay the tomato halves cut side up in a 13x9 baking dish and drizzle with half of the olive oil and liberally salt and pepper them. Once they’re coated, throw them in a 375° oven for about a half-hour. You’ll hear them sizzling as they roast .. they are chatty.
Mis-en-place: Red onion, garlic, olives, anchovies, and tomato paste
Make the sauce base.
While the tomatoes are roasting, prepare the base for the sauce. Start with mis-en-place - which is just a fancy French word for “put in place,” i.e., get your sh*t together before turning on the stove. For this recipe, it helps to cut up all the vegetables (slice onions, mince garlic, smash olives), pull your anchovies out of the jar or can, measure out the tomato paste, and bring them all stove side so that your onions don’t burn while you’re mincing the garlic, for example.
If using the pancetta, throw it into a large skillet (high sides are good - I like a Dutch oven) over medium heat and cook until it is crispy and its fat is rendered (i.e., grease comes out of the meat and coats the bottom of the pan). Add the sliced onions to the pot with a good sprinkling of salt and pepper and the remaining olive oil (note: you may not need all the olive oil if you use pancetta and it is extra fatty). Cook the onions for about 20-25 minutes until they are translucent, thoroughly browned, and very jammy.
Raw pancetta
Rendered (crispy) pancetta
Onions, salt, and pepper
Add the anchovies and cook them into the onions for a few minutes until they essentially disappear. Add the garlic and kalamata olives and cook, stirring pretty constantly for another 5-10 minutes.
Add the tomato paste (and honey if using) and cook an additional five minutes until it becomes a deep, rich red color. The contents of the pan should be pretty thick at this point and hold their shape or leave a trail if you push them around with a spatula.
Now you’re ready to throw in the vermouth to deglaze the pan. It should sizzle and loosen up any brown bits on the bottom of the pan. Stir to incorporate and allow the alcohol to cook off. Let this mixture hang out on super low heat (or turn them off if your tomatoes are taking a while to get done).
Once the tomatoes are roasted, remove them from the oven and let them cool down a bit (they don’t have to be room temp or cold, just not screaming hot). Use tongs to flip to tomatoes flat side down, remove the hard center cap (where it was connected to the vine), and chop the tomatoes. I like to use kitchen scissors to do all of this directly in the roasting pan - including cutting the tomatoes. We want to cut them into about 1/2” to 1” chunks and make sure you are cutting the skin so as to avoid large pieces of skin in the sauce.
Dump everything into the saucepan including all the tomato juices and mix it in thoroughly to loosen up the base. It will start to resemble a good tomato sauce. Let everything cook down over low heat for about 5-10 minutes more until the sauce is as thick as you’d like it and the onions are completely soft. No one wants crunchy onions in their tomato sauce. This is also when you can add sliced mushrooms
Make some pasta.
Aggressively salt a pot of water and bring to a boil. Add the pasta and cook according to the package directions. I always steal a piece of pasta when it starts to soften (after maybe five minutes or so) to taste for doneness. I can’t stand overcooked pasta, so I like to go just a little less time than recommended to make sure it doesn’t get soft and mealy.
Put Everything Together
When the pasta is barely al dente, turn off the heat and transfer the pasta to the saucepan using tongs (or a big slotted spoon for short pasta). Let some pasta water get into the sauce as it will help loosen it a bit. Stir the pasta into the sauce and let it hang out on low heat for a few minutes. The pasta will continue to cook, absorbing the sauce and eventually thickening it as everything cooks down.
Plate it up and shower it with Parmesan cheese!
Notes
*You can use red, yellow, or white onions or 4-5 good sized shallots. Whichever way you slice it, you want about a cup and a half of chopped up onion at the end of the day.
**My favorite mushrooms are oyster because they are super meaty and can easily hold their own in this sauce without any meat, but they are expensive and button or portabella are great too.
***A mix of half ground pork and ground beef is exceptionally delicious for a meatsauce or meatballs. If you are including meat, cook it in sauce pot before you make the sauce and use the drippings to cook the onions. Supplement with olive oil if the meat is very lean.
****Or your favorite pasta shape. Ridges and texture are good for this to give the sauce something to grab onto.
