Tomato Sauce...how to thicken


 
S

Steve Petrone

TVWBB Diamond Member
My typical tomato sauce consists of olive oil, an onion, fresh garlic, herbs and crushed tomatoes.
Sometimes a little carrot or other addition. This type sauce tends to be very runny.
As I type, I am reminded of the tv cooks adding the pasta to a pan of sauce...to soak up the excess licquid?
The options I've tried in the past include either the addition of tomato paste or yuck-some bottled sauce.
Yes you can cook longer to reduce.

What are the best options? Thanks-still learning.
 
The only thing I use tomato paste for is, occasionally, smearing on bones pre-roasting for stock. Never in a tomato sauce.

Pasta is tossed with sauce so that the sauce flavors absorb into the pasta. (Plain pasta served with the sauce dumped on it is a (not very good) American thing.)

Three ways, imo, to thicken tomato sauce: One, gentle reduction so excess water evaporates; two, puréeing a little, some, most or all of the solids in the sauce; three, a combination of the two.

P.S. I don't use crushed tomatoes but I suppose another option would be straining out some of the water up front, through a fine sieve, before use.
 
I think it is a good thing that I can not see the expression on Mr. Krugers face when he reads my suggestion, but here it goes- add some mashed potatoes flakes to your tomato sauce. A tablespoon or two full will do the trick. Not very "gourmet", but it works.
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His suggestion on tossing the sauce in the pasta is much better, but sometimes you need a thicker sauce. The mashed potato trick reduces simmer time, without doing much to the taste in any direction.
 
Tomato paste can be used to darken tomato based sauce if it is added at the initial sweat of onions and other aromatic veg and allowed to cook with them prior to deglazing or adding any other liquids.

You would do this for example with Cincinnati chili or maybe for a very rich osso bucco. Doing this doesn't seem to affect the thickness of the sauce, however.
 
My expression is unchanged Geir!
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No, not something I would necessarily do (I have never bought mashed potato flakes but I remember them from the 60s), but you are quite right that it would work. As long as the quantity isn't too mich the flavor of the sauce would be virtually unchanged.
 
Just made some butter chicken. Used ground up cashews to thicken the sauce. Worked like a charm.
 
This is my fresh tomato sauce. (I also have a recipe for a deep rich sauce that cooks in the oven for 3 hours). This is naturally thick. No issues.


Tomato Sauce
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Recipe By: Steve Cutchen
Yield: 4 quarts

Summary:

Ingredients:

5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 yellow onion, large, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
10 cloves garlic, crushed
4 28 ounce cans tomatoes, with liquid, hand crushed (recommended: San Marzano)
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, to 1 1/2
3 bay leaves
6 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
6 tablespoons fresh basil, finely chopped
4 tablespoon fresh oregano, finely chopped
kosher salt
black pepper

Directions:

1. In a large saucepan or dutch oven, heat olive oil. Add onion, celery and carrot and cook over medium to low heat until transparent. Add more oil if needed to prevent scorching. Add garlic and cook until tender. Then deglaze pan with tomatoes and their liquid, breaking up the tomatoes by hand to help them combine with the other flavors. Add crushed red pepper flakes and bay leaf. Simmer for 30 minutes over low heat. Remove bay leaf.

2. Puree with a stick blender, leaving the sauce a bit coarse. Alternatively, use a food processor, being careful because it is hot. Work in batches, and pulse each new hot batch a few times to heat the inside of the work bowl to prevent pressure build-up.

3. When all of the sauce has been processed, return to pan and add parsley, basil and oregano. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Simmer for another 10 minutes, or if you are making pasta, while the pasta cooks. Use immediately, or cool and store in the refrigerator or freezer until ready to use.
 
I myself dont thicken a tomatoe sacue. I cut it down in the beggining of the sauce. Drain the mashed maters in a strainer before hitting the sauce!
 
I just simmer till reduced; really doesn't take that long. I'll start sauce earlier in the day to ensure enough time and work on something else. Tomato paste sort of has a bitter, odd after taste to me so I don't use it. While the carrots won't really thicken a sauce, I have used them (finely grated) from time to time to sweeten a sauce. A neighbor (from Italy) gave me that tip about 35 years ago.

Paul
 
Never really fretted about thickening red gravy. Nor have all the Italians in my family and my wife's family.

It's just simmered until it's the right thickness.

Pasta is always tossed in the sauce. Ravioli though might sometimes be served naked and the sauce applied individually per plate.

Some use tomato paste at the start, some don't use it at all. When it is used at the start it's "browned" first. This as well as some other ingredients really depended on what the intended end use or dish was.

On my wife's side the pasta itself is always home made (yes even the ravioli). She never had dried pasta until she went to college. They never ordered pasta out in a restaurant
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If you like to garden - try making / canning your own tomato puree.

We grew some plum-style tomatoes a few years ago, and they grew like crazy. The plum-type tomatoes are more "pulpy" (less seeds and runny "goop" inside than most other tomatoes) and IMO are excellent for sauces.

I bought a Foley food mill (squeezes the solids out and separates the skins / seeds) and put-up a few quarts and pints. Starting with this stuff produced some of the best Lasagne & other tomato-based sauces that my wife and I have ever made.

If I have to buy canned - I like San Marzano and Red Gold, and usually use a mix of crushed and/or diced and puree.
 
Great thoughts guys. A little off topic...
has anyone cooked a butt in sauce. My dad liked to slow cook sauce with some kind of meat. Meatballs, pork or chicken. Rich sauces they were.
 
Often in the red gravy goes the sausage, small braciolle, meatballs, and even ribs. Browned first then into the pot. Also crabs, salt cod, octopus, squid depending on what you are going for in the end. Seasonings can/do change depending on the meat/seafood you are using of course.

The flavors are incredibly good. If you are only used to adding meats - the seafood is a hidden treasure you need to try. Seafood is a little different in terms of prep before adding.
 
i have used a recipe out of the Moosewood original vegetarian cookbook. It was originally given to my by my sister who was a vegetarian and was dissaproving of my carnivorous habits but it really is a great cookbook to peruse. The tomato sauce recipe in it is amazing. She uses a 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese to thicken up the sauce. I only use a nice parmesano reggiano when I do use it.
 
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