Page 467 - YC Cooking School

Low and slow is what you’re after
Gentle heat is a tomato sauce’s best friend. This sauce needs to cook away slowly for about

40 minutes with the lid on to allow for maximum flavour exchange. Remember to stir the
sauce every so often so that it doesn’t stick to the base of the pot. It’s important to take the
lid off at the end and cook the sauce for another 15 minutes, allowing some of the liquid to
evaporate. This reduces the amount of sauce in the pot and strengthens the flavours.

Choose your consistency
The consistency of the tomato sauce is really up to you. Looking for a lovely rustic sauce?
Leave it as it is. Or, if you're wanting a smooth purée, quickly whizz it up with a stick blender.

Endless options for eating

The ways to use a fresh tomato sauce are endless: it’s delicious on top of pizzas, or mixed in
with pastas and ravioli. You can mix it with cream, white wine and chives to turn it into the
perfect accompaniment to a seafood dish, or you can spoon it onto vegetables and serve it
as a gratin.

Variations on this sauce
Like with béchamel sauce, tomato sauce can be tweaked to create a world of tasty options.
Here are a few of our favourite variations for the 1L tomato base sauce:

Add 3 Tbsp chopped roasted peppers, 1 Tbsp garlic and 1 tsp chilli and you’ll have a

Basque sauce.
Add chopped bacon (about 150g) at the same time as the vegetables and you’ll get an
Escoffier tomato sauce.
Add 2 Tbsp pesto and 250ml cream for a Beppe tomato sauce.
Add 1 Tbsp chopped anchovies, 1 Tbsp capers and 2 Tbsp chopped olives for a
Puttanesca sauce.
Add 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp coriander, 1 Tbsp garlic, ½ tsp cinnamon and 1 tsp chilli for a
Tunisian sauce.

Storing and freezing
Tomato sauce will keep in the fridge for up to a week. A good tip for freezing is to divide the
sauce into small batches so that you can whip it out as needed.

Cheat sheet for this lesson’s recipes

Ingredient substitutions, shortcuts and time-saving tips

1. Fresh tomatoes are best, but you’ll still get a great sauce using canned ones.
2. Take up the challenge to make your own bouquet garni, but if you’re pressed for time,
these flavour-filled beauties can be found at most supermarkets.

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