Basic Tomato Sauce and Recipes for Using It

Marinara sauce is a basic Italian tomato sauce.

Jessie, the next Sunday you're at home doing your schoolwork and Erich's watching the hockey game, why not try making some homemade tomato sauce? I promise you it tastes better than any spaghetti sauce in a jar, and it's the basis for a bunch of other tasty recipes. It will also fill your apartment with humidity and mouth-watering aroma in the middle of a cold and dry winter. You can make a big pot of it, freeze the leftovers, and use it for a bunch of the recipes I've listed below.

I think fresh herbs are the best, so come home and get some from my windowsill whenever you want.

By the way, did you know different pasta shapes are best for different sauces? Generally, the lighter and more delicate the sauce, the thinner the pasta. Shapes that are tubes like penne hold really juicy sauces, and ones that have bumpy shapes like farfalle or rotini are good for sauces with a lot of texture and lumps.

Mmm,fresh herbs.

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 large onion, diced (about 1 cup)

4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 15-oz can tomato sauce

1 small (4-5 oz) can tomato paste

1 1/2 cups beef broth

6 cups chopped fresh Roma tomatoes, or 1 64-oz can chopped tomatoes

1/2 cup red wine

2 tbsp fresh or dry oregano, minced

1/3 cup fresh basil, chopped, or 3 tbsp dry basil

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 1/2 tbsp salt

Directions

Heat the oil in a big pot on medium heat. Add the pepper flakes, onion, and garlic and saute until they are soft. Whisk together the tomato paste and broth until it is well combined, then pour it into the pot. Stir in the rest of the ingredients. Bring the sauce to a boil, then reduce heat and let it simmer for at least an hour, or until the sauce is thick and smooth.

Garden Vegetable Spaghetti Sauce

This is one way I used to slip some extra veggies into your diet when you were younger, and I'm not sorry, either. This might be a good way to get Erich to eat more vegetables.

4 cups Tomato sauce

1 cup carrots, diced

1 cup red or green bell peppers, finely chopped

1 cup mushrooms, sliced

1/2 cup celery, finely chopped

1 cup beef broth

Mix all the ingredients in a pot and simmer for 1 hour. Serve over pasta.

Serves 4-6.

Basic Lasagne

2 cups Tomato Sauce

6 sheets lasagne noodles

1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese

2 eggs

2 tbsp oregano

2 cups shredded provolone cheese

Boil the lasagne noodles until soft, then drain them. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8x8 casserole dish with butter spray, then spread 1/2 cup of tomato sauce in the bottom of the pan. 

Stir together the ricotta, eggs, and oregano. Lay down 2 lasagne noodles in the pan, cutting them so that they fit. Spread 1/2 of the ricotta over the noodles, then spread 1/2 cup of the sauce over the ricotta mixture. Lay down 2 more lasagne noodles the opposite way. Spread with the rest of the ricotta and 1 cup of mozzarella. Lay down the last two noodles, then spread the rest of the sauce over the top. Sprinkle with the rest of the cheese.

Cover the pan with foil and bake about 45 minutes, until the casserole is cooked through and the cheese is melted.

Serves 4-6.

Chicken Parmesan

4 breaded chicken patties

3 cups tomato sauce

1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese (we like to buy a wedge of parmesan and grate it at home)

1 tbsp dried oregano

Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Spread half of the tomato sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 casserole dish. Place the chicken in a single layer on top of the sauce. Pour the rest of the sauce over the chicken, then sprinkle with the mozzarella, parmesan, and oregano. 

Cover the pan with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Take off the foil and bake until the cheese is slightly browned and the chicken is very hot.

Italian Spaghetti and Meatballs

4 cups tomato sauce

1 cup beef broth

1 egg

1/2 pound uncooked Italian sausage links

1/2 pound lean ground beef (I like the 80% to 93% lean, even though it's more expensive)

1/3 cup bread crumbs

1 package spaghetti

Pour the sauce and broth into a pot and bring it to a simmer over medium heat. Cut the skin off the sausage and crumble it into a mixing bowl. Crumble the hamburger meat into the bowl, then stir in the rest of the ingredients. 

With your hands, roll about 1 tablespoon of meat into a tight ball, and drop it into the sauce. When you've made all the meatballs and put them in the sauce, put a lid on the pot, turn the heat to low, and let it simmer for 45 to 60 minutes, until the meatballs are done and the sauce is thick.

Boil the spaghetti according to the package directions, and serve the sauce and meatballs over the top of the spaghetti.

Serves 4-6.

Pasta Alla Vodka

3 cups tomato sauce

1/2 cup vodka (try pepper vodka!)

2 tsp red pepper flakes or ground cayenne pepper

1 cup half-and-half

1/4 cup chopped basil leaves, or 2 tbsp dried basil

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 package fettucine

In a saucepan, simmer together the tomato sauce, vodka, and red pepper flakes for 20 minutes. Turn the heat to low. Pour in the half-and-half, basil, and parmesan, and warm through for 15 minutes. Make sure it doesn't boil, or the cream might separate and look curdly. It will still taste good, though.

Cook the pasta according to the package directions, then toss together the pasta and sauce before serving.

Serves 4-6.

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Greek Spinach and Feta Pie (Spanakopita)

If there is anyplace in the world we'd like to travel to and haven't visited yet, it would be Greece, home of Western civilization. Although Spain would be amazing, too. And Australia. Oh, it's time to pack our suitcases and get on the road. Winter in Chicago makes me long to bake under a hot sun on a blanket by Greece's "wine-dark sea", as Homer called it.

Instead, we are making spanakopita pie and turning up the heat. You've probably seen these as little triangles, too, and bite-sized appetizers. This recipe is from my friend and fantastic chef Talea Bloom. She made this for a Greek friend once, and the friend liked it even better than her Greek mother's recipe! Joe and I added mint, a common Greek seasoning, to the spinach mixture, to give it a little sparkle.

We did NOT make our own phyllo dough, though we do have recipes for it. Take my word for it, it's rather time-consuming to make and there are plenty of good frozen varieties out there. There's such a thing as taking authenticity too far.

Ingredients

Pastry:

1 roll phyllo, at room temperature
4 tbsp melted butter for brushing onto phyllo between layers

Spinach filling: 

2 lbs baby spinach-chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
3 green onions-finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic-finely diced
1 red onion- finely diced
1/4 cup fresh dill - finely chopped
2 tbsp fresh mint - finely chopped
8 -12 oz. feta (you may play with this amount to taste)
1 tbsp hot pepper flakes
½ tsp grated Nutmeg
Zest and juice of half a lemon (1 tbsp lemon juice)
3 eggs – beaten (for mixing in)
1 egg – beaten (for brushing pastry before baking)

Directions

Heat pan, add olive oil, green onion, garlic and red onion. Saute over medium heat for 3-5 minutes until translucent and fragrant. Add lemon juice and zest as well as spinach. Stir to combine. Continue sauteing until all spinach has wilted. Pour this mixture into a colander and let drain.

Preheat oven to 375 F. In the meantime combine all other ingredients in a large bowl. 

Brush the bottom of a 9x13 casserole dish or baking pan with plenty of butter. You may also substitute cooking spray for this. Place 1 sheet of phyllo on the bottom, brush with melted butter, add next sheet. Repeat until you have 10 sheets layered in this way.

Next, spread the spinach/cheese mixture evenly over the pastry and repeat layering technique. Brush top layer with beaten egg and bake the pie in a 375 F oven for 45 minutes until the top of pie is golden brown and crispy.

To my surprise this pie paired really well with Malbec.

Serves 4-6.

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Pecan-Crusted Fish Fillets

The first time we made this recipe from a Weight Watchers-friendly site, we loved it so much that I really never want to eat fish any other way. Yeah, I have mentioned that I am not exactly crazy about fish, but this is mighty, mighty good. It's also quick to make.

One 4-oz fish fillet is 4 points+ in the Weight Watchers system.

If you have any of the pecan coating left, you can freeze it, then toast it in the oven before re-using it.

Ingredients

4 4-oz. thin fish fillets (Tilapia, Snapper, Swai, Whitefish)
1/2 cup pecans, finely chopped
1/3 cup bread crumbs
2 tsp jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped
1 tbsp ginger root, grated
1 tbsp packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves

Directions

Dry the fish fillets on paper towels. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and grease a large baking pan.

Stir together the rest of the ingredients, and then spin it in a food processor or blender until it is evenly fine in texture. Spread it out on a plate. Press each fish fillet into the pecan mixture to coat it, then turn it over and coat the other side of each fillet. Place the coated fish on the baking pan and spray with cooking oil.

Bake the fish until it is cooked through and slightly flaky, and the crust is golden brown - 5 to 10 minutes. Serve immediately.

Serves 4.

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Watermelon-Lychee Granita

Last weekend, my delightfully quirky girlfriends got together for a "Young Frankenstein" party. I'm glad that I even know women who enjoy that movie, and we were excited to initiate a couple of the ladies who had never seen it before. The food theme for the party was German, though the movie is set in Transylvania. I brought watermelon-lychee sorbet.

Yes, I know that granita, or sorbet, is not German; it's also not the first type of dessert you might think of during a Chicago winter. But I had a can of lychee fruit I was wanting to use, a couple of limes that I absolutely had to use (soon!), and a recipe for fruit ice that I'd been eager to try. Plus, I needed a light fruit-based companion for the Reuben dip, Bavarian soft pretzels, hot cheese spread, kielbasa, and German meatballs at the party.

So I took my frozen pan of lovely salmon-colored ice to the party, put it in Jo's refrigerator to defrost, and promptly forgot about it. At eleven that night, as we collected our bowls and stowed our leftovers, I remembered my dessert.

It was perfectly thawed, full of crunchy sweet-sour ice crystals, and I scooped some into goblets and pleaded for everyone to have a taste before they left. "It's really healthy!" I exclaimed. "It's mostly just fruit!" I had another whole pan at home; how would Joe and I ever eat all that watermelon ice? Everyone was tired and they just wanted to go home. They were really only humoring me by having a taste, circled around the kitchen island in their coats.

It was one of those moments you live for as a cook. They spooned up every little bite and asked for seconds. We dreamed about other new fruit combinations - watermelon-mint! Apricot-ginger-prosecco! Our minds fast-forwarded to sultry August, when we would lounge on our flowery decks slipping spoonfuls of this frozen nectar between our lips. They begged me to let them take some home, and I thankfully gave it away. Joe and I would not be compelled to eat dessert every night for the next two weeks!

I love when I make something I love, and other people are delighted by it. I hope you like this as much as my friends did.

P. S. They talked about seeing "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" next. And wearing costumes. Hmmm, who would I be?

Ingredients

1 15-oz. can pitted lychee fruit in syrup (reserve the syrup)

1/4 cup superfine sugar

5 limes, or 1/2 cup lime juice (kitchen hint: freeze the lime peels for the next time you need lime zest)

2 tbsp grated fresh ginger

6 cups watermelon fruit, de-seeded and cubed

Directions

Drain the lychees, reserving the syrup in a small saucepan. Add the lime juice and sugar to the syrup. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until the sugar is dissolved. Allow to cool.

In a food processor or blender, puree the watermelon, lychee, ginger, and syrup. When it is finely pureed, strain the mixture through a fine sieve, and discard the solids.

Pour into a large shallow metal pan and put into the freezer for two hours. Take out the pan and break up the ice crystals with a fork. Repeat again each hour until the ice is frozen solid.

To serve, allow the granita to thaw enough that it can be served with a spoon or ice cream scoop.

Serves 4-8.

P.S. The original recipe comes from the gorgeously-photographed cook book, "Cooking from Above: Asian".

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Farfalle with Arugula and Sun-dried Tomatoes

I love the cute little shape and sauce-holding capacity of farfalle (bowtie) pasta. This is one of our favorite light and healthy weeknight dinners, originally from the Weight Watchers site. This meatless dish cooks up quickly and the sun-dried tomatoes and arugula give it a bright, savory flavor.

Ingredients

1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, without oil
1 cup vegetable or chicken broth
6 oz uncooked farfalle
1 tsp olive oil
2 cups arugula, chopped
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 garlic clove, minced
16 oz cooked navy, white, or cannelini beans, drained and rinsed
2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions

Put tomatoes in a bowl and cover them with 1 cup boiling water. Let stand until softened, about 20 minutes. Drain and finely chop. Cook the pasta according to package directions, then drain.

In a large frying pan, saute the arugula in oil for 2-3 minutes, until just wilted.

Whisk together tomatoes, broth, vinegar and garlic. Pour into the frying pan and add the beans. Heat through, then serve topped with the parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Skip the parmesan cheese if you want a vegan meal.

Serves 4-6.

If you follow Weight Watchers, a 1-cup serving is 4 points+

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