GardenCuizine Recipe: Pomodoro Sauce

Pomodoro (Tomato) Sauce
~ Low Fat, Low Sodium ~

Make a large batch of sauce the day you need to use it and freeze the leftover. For a family of 3 adults, we get 3 pasta dinners from this recipe.

Yields: 3 quarts. This recipe can be easily doubled or tripled.
Ingredients:  

• (3) 28 oz (794g) cans undrained San Marzano peeled tomatoes with or without added basil
• (1) 6oz (170g) small can tomato paste
• ½ medium onion chopped (110g)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic (6 cloves, 18g)
• ½ teaspoon dried oregano or 1 teaspoon fresh
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 chiltepin hot pepper (optional)
•  handful Basil (1 cup leaves, 6g) fresh picked and washed, or 1-2 tablespoons pesto*

Putting it all together:
Wash your hands and put on a cooks apron. Add the olive oil to a large sauce pot over medium heat. When hot add the onion - sauté until the onion becomes translucent, but not brown. Add the garlic and optional hot pepper - stir with a wooden spoon. Avoid over browning the garlic, immediately add the peeled tomatoes, crushing them with your hands as you drop them in the pot. Add the paste. Stir well, bring to simmer. Reduce heat and cover. If your sauce seems too thick, thin it with some of the cooked pasta water.

Contrary to popular belief, pasta sauce does not need to simmer all day or for hours -- unless of course, you include a large piece of pork as some Italians do. Meatless Pomodoro sauce is finished after simmering for one hour or less. That being said, beneficial lycopene (a disease-fighting antioxidant found in tomatoes) may be better absorbed if the tomato sauce cooks longer. 

Ohio State University research Scientist, Steven Schwartz, found that the molecular structure of lycopene changes when tomato sauce is heated for a long period of time with fat such as olive oil. For more read: TURNING UP THE HEAT ON TOMATOES BOOSTS ABSORPTION OF LYCOPENE

*To preserve your garden basil harvest, make pesto during the summer when fresh basil is plentiful and freeze it in small containers. Pesto freezes quite well and adds excellent basil flavor to homemade pasta sauce and other recipes during the winter months when garden fresh basil is not available and the market price for fresh is high.

Buon Appetito

GardenCuizine Nutrition Analysis calculated from USDA nutrient analysis
Good source: Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin K
Serving size 1/9 of recipe (120g), enough for one good size bowl of pasta
Calories 67, Total fat: 3g (5%DV), Saturated fat: 0g, Cholesterol: 0mg, Sodium: 91mg (4%DV), Total Carbohydrates: 8g (3%DV), Dietary Fiber: 2g (9%DV), Vitamin A: 784IU (16%DV), Vitamin C: 9.2mg (15%DV), Iron: 1.6mg (9%DV), Vitamin K: ~13.3mcg (~17%DV)

Percent Daily Values (%DV) are based on a caloric intake of 2,000 calories for adults and children age 4 or older

Related Reading 
Lidia Bastianich: Lidia's Italian Table: More Than 200 Recipes From The First Lady Of Italian Cooking 
Mario Batali: Mario Batali Simple Italian Food: Recipes from My Two Villages 
Frank Pellegrino: Rao's Cookbook: Over 100 Years of Italian Home Cooking
Henry Hill and Priscilla Davis: The Wise Guy Cookbook: My Favorite Recipes From My Life as a Goodfella to Cooking on the Run

In Culinary school they taught us that Italians do not over sauce
their pasta…obviously they never met my mother!

Photograph and blog article copyright (c) 2009 Wind. All rights reserved. rev 11/18/11.