Ever since I was little, my Sunday mornings have consisted of getting out of bed and floating out of my room to the delicious smell of sautéd garlic (my favourite scent ever!) and my mom’s tomato sauce cooking on the stove top. Growing up in an Italian household means that Sunday is pasta day with a fresh pot of my mom’s tomato sauce. In fact, my mom makes the best tomato sauce and the first time my boyfriend ate over for Sunday lunch, he asked if I knew how to make tomato sauce, to which I replied of course, but he insisted it has to be just like my mom’s… I can’t be annoyed, he has really good taste…
So naturally, my mom has taught me how to make tomato sauce, the same way my grandmother taught her, but I’ve added a little something extra. The most important thing to note is that you need to use the right tomatoes, San Marzano tomatoes (plum tomatoes) from the Campania region of Italy (where my maternal grandparents are from), which are sweet and low in acidity.
Aside from the San Marzano tomatoes, I was taught from a very young age that good olive oil and garlic are the staples to any recipe, which is why it is important to always have these ingredients readily available in your kitchen when cooking an Italian meal.
To begin, I prep all my ingredients on the counter for optimal organisation and efficiency:- 3-4 cans of 28oz San Marzano whole peeled tomatoes- 2-3 large cloves of garlic- 2 tbs of extra virgin olive oil- 1 tbs of salt- 1/2 tbs of oregano- 1 tbs of dried basil leaves (crushed)And, I like to add 3oz of my dad’s homemade red wine.
I use a food mill to crush the tomatoes and release the juice into a separate bowl (the food mill will retain the pulp and the seeds). Next, I sauté the garlic in a large pot with the olive oil on high-heat, making sure that the garlic doesn’t burn, for about 2 minutes, then I pour the tomato juice into the pot and add the salt, oregano, basil, red wine, and stir everything together.
We usually have homemade veal meatballs stored in our freezer (either made by mom or my grandmother) and we also add these to the sauce. Once the sauce has boiled for a little while, we reduce it to low-heat and let it cook for at least 2 hours.
We put a pot of salted water to boil and decide which pasta to cook, we don’t always agree, but we always agree on ravioli. We do make our own from time to time, but we also buy a 1kg bag of veal ravioli from a local specialty Italian grocery store, Magasin Berchicci.
Then we sit down to eat and have a lovely chat about anything and everything while sipping on a glass, or two, of my dad’s homemade wine.