What happened some time ago?
My food blog came into life in 2015 – long ago. About 2 years ago or so I realized that there were (too!) many posts w/ lots of photos requiring more & more storage making e. g. updates of the data base somewhat tricky. So I decided to do an internal review resulting in deleting quite a lot of posts & trimming down my blog.
(To be honest: when starting in 2015 it was very experimental … I tried one option for presentation in a post or another … My food photography was in its infancy … My style – did I have a unique style? Trial & error! So my posts of the early years were sometimes of rather poor quality.)
Otherwise there were some dishes which I really like – so every now & then I reprocess an old post – to share the recipe, but also to create a more concise version.
(Maybe I should also mention that WP changed quite a lot here & there over the years, e. g. concerning the new editor, which had in tow adaptions in widgets … widgets themselves evolving new features … All of this had some consequences for the posts i. e. the layout of the posts. So I had to review older posts.)
Today it’s this delicious tomato sauce, quick & easy to create, based on your pantry stock – at least my pantry stock covers all of the ingredients.
By the way: at the moment I’m very fond of quick & easy recipes because I’m busy. (In addition: it’s also due to the heat!) My better half & I decided to move & it turns out, that there are many preparations aka decluttering lurking in shadow zones like cellar, in the attic, in countless boxes or drawers … wherever.
I don’t want to disregard my blogs, but I’ve to manage my daily challenges, especially our new challenges (more about this later). So reprocessing recipes & writing about fast lunches & dinners is preset.
However, now coming back to the tomato sauce …
All ingredients were in my pantry. (I admit that there are some adaptions are possible …)
So it’s now:
- a can filled w/ Italian peeled tomatoes in their very own juice
- canned tomato purée
- olive oil, balsamic vinegar & honey (resp. syrup or simply sugar)
- fresh garlic, dried chili & onions.
I mixed some dried herbs like:
- oregano
- thyme
- sage
- ground rosemary
and …
- a bay leaf.
Instead of creating this mis you may also use a store-bought mix of Italian Herbs or Herbs of Provence.
The onions are chopped, the cloves of garlic are pressed & the red chili is crumbled – discard the small pits.
Start frying the the onion mess in the olive oil mess together w/ the herb mess. Fry gently for some minutes.
Add the peeled tomatoes, the tomato juice & the tomato purée & mix well. Crush down the tomatoes. Bring it to a boil & let it simmer for about 20 min. Add salt & pepper to taste.
Voilà: a thick tomato sauce w/ Italian flavors, bits of tomatoes …
… ready for some spaghetti topped w/ freshly grated parmesan or pecorino!
Enjoy!
- 1 can peeled Italian tomatoes (about 400 ml)
- 1 can tomato purée (70 gr)
- 1 big spring onion
- 1 small red onion
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 dried red chili
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- ½ tbsp balsamic vinegar
- ½ tbsp honey (or syrup or sugar)
- ½ tsp dried oregano
- ½ tsp dried thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- ¼ tsp dried sage
- ¼ tsp ground rosemary
- salt & pepper (to taste)
- Mix olive oil, balsamic vinegar & honey/syrup/sugar in a bowl. Chop the onions, press the garlic, crumble the chili (discard the pits!), add the oil mess & start frying.
- Add herbs & the bay leave & fry everything for about 4-5 min – softly!
- Add the peeled tomatoes (incl. the tomato juice!) & break the tomatoes apart.
- Add the tomato purée.
- Let the tomato mess simmer for about 20 min.
- Remove the bay leave.
- Add salt & pepper to taste.
- Pour in a serving bowl & serve.
If you prefer canned tomato purée only adjust the amounts; it’ll become a very smooth tomato sauce! Onions: I happened to find a spring onion & a red onion in my pantry – you may use any onion(s) you’ll find in your pantry, however, take care of the amount! Garlic & chili: You may use more garlic & more chili … less garlic & less chili … any combination which is fine for you. My recommendation results in a slightly garlicky tomato sauce w/ a little hotness. Herbs: Instead of mixing you very own mix of dried herbs you may also rely on store-bought solution like Italian Herbs or Herbs of Provence. You may store the tomato sauce in the fridge for at least 3 days.
