Basic Tomato Sauce: Authentic, Homemade Italian Cooking

Basic tomato sauce is the staple for many Italian dishes, so it's important to have a solid recipe for this delightful red sauce.Especially when you are a huge lover of Italian cuisine.   One of the many great things about having parents that lived in Italy is that I grew up eating authentic Italian food. Pretty much anything Italian, except for pizza (which was ordered in for an easy night), was homemade. From pasta to all of the white and red sauces, I spent hours in the kitchen with my mom and sisters as we made mouthwatering meals. And my Dad would join us when we were making chatters (an Italian sweet).  Birthday parties in our house were also pasta parties. My mom would pull out all of her pasta machines and show everyone how to make the dough. Then we would all start rolling it, having contests around who could roll the longest piece without it breaking. (I'm sure I won at least a few times).  When we were done rolling it and turning it into fettuccini, we would wait for my mom to cook it and serve it with some authentic homemade tomato sauce. 

Yum!

 Oh, and dessert was always some type of chocolate pie...double yum!!  Whenever I make this sauce, I always triple or quadruple the recipe. It lasts in the freezer for a ridiculously long time. I know I've frozen it for at least a year at a time. This allows me to have pre-made sauce without having to run to the store whenever I want to use basic tomato sauce for a quick meal, like pasta or chicken parmesan. It's also loads healthier than store-bought. For someone with PCOS, Insulin Resistance, and pre-diabetes who has to be super careful with the amount of carbs and sugars consumed, this tomato sauce recipe is perfect, as it is very low in sugars and carbs. Plus, it has zero fat! 

It's also super simple to make.

 You'll kick yourself for not having tried to make tomato sauce before! If you have a food processor then you just made it even easier on yourself. Except for the dreaded cleanup time, that is. I seriously loathe cleaning my food processor and Vitamix. I mean, the Vitamix even has its own self cleaner setting, but for some reason I just find it tedious to do. Once you make this tomato sauce, try it out with my ultimate protein pasta, topping it off with a little parmesan and oregano.  Or on the side of my keto mozzarella sticks. 

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Ingredients

• 2 Cups Finely Chopped White or Yellow onion

• 3 medium cloves garlic, roughly 6 grams. Add more as desired (a little extra won't hurt)

• 1 1/2 C Tap Water

• 2 small 6oz cans Tomato Paste (I use Simple Truth Organic Tomato Paste)

• 1 large 28oz can Crushed Tomatoes

• 2 Bay Leaves

• 1 large Knorr Beef Bouillon Cube

• 1/4 tsp Dried Oregano

• 1/8 tsp dried Basil

• 2 medium (6" to 7" long) Carrots (**See note before using carrots, only used occasionally**)

• 1 TBSP Olive Oil (Optional)

• Pepper (to taste)

Instructions

1. Dissolve bouillon in a small amount of water and set aside

2. just take some of the water the recipe calls for and put it in a small bowl, throw in the bouillon cube, and microwave for 30-60 seconds. Make sure it is dissolved well

3. Sauté chopped onions and crushed garlic in oil or cooking spray on low heat for about 5 minutes

4. Add all other ingredients except for carrots

5. If you are using a smaller pan for the onions and garlic then you will need to transfer to a larger stock pot

6. Cook for 1 hour on low-medium heat, stirring occasionally to make sure the bottom doesn’t burn.

7. See note below about carrots

Notes

• Onion should be chopped finely, not minced. You can throw them into the food processor to speed up the chopping process, but be sure you don't let them turn to water.

• Onion and Garlic can be sautéed in Olive Oil, however I do not use this, and so it is not added to the nutritional information. Instead, I just spray a small amount of olive oil based cooking spray, just enough to coat pan.

• Be sure that the tomato paste and crushed tomatoes that you buy are plain. There should be no special flavoring added to them.

• One Knorr bouillon (large rectangle) is equivalent to 2 bouillons for any other brand – so if you aren’t using Knorr, then you will want to compensate.

• Carrots are only used on occasion. Every once in a while, the tomatoes used are slightly bitter. If after an hour, the sauce is slightly bitter, or you would prefer it to be sweeter, then chop up the carrots finely, throw into the sauce, and let cook a little longer.

• The carrots add the correct type of sweetness. If you have a food processer then you will notice the flavor difference immediately if you can mince/puree them. If you can only chop them it will take a little longer to get the flavor to change.

• Because you never know in advance as to whether you will need the carrots or not, it is recommended that you buy them regardless. You can always sauté them for a nice side dish for another night :)

• Nutritional information for the recipe is almost identical when using carrots. For the entire recipe, not just a serving, the carrots add 50 more calories, .3g more fats, 1.2g more proteins, and 11.7g more carbs - including the addition of 3.5g more fiber. When separated into servings, these amounts are negligible.

• Triple this recipe when making sauce for storing. Holds up for months and months in freezer, and way better than store bought!