Frugal Gourmet Italian Tomato Sauce
jacqui{JB}
> I moved recently and lost my "Frugal Gourmet Cooks
> Three Ancient Cuisines" cookbook. I love the Italian
> Tomato Sauce recipe from it.
Italian Tomato Sauce
Makes 3 quarts
"This one is easy to prepare and very versatile in your kitchen.. You
will be surprised at how quickly you will use up this flavorful sauce.
This one is made without meat so that you can use it in all sorts of
dishes, meat dishes included."
2 28-ounce cans tomato puree
1 6-ounce can tomato paste
1 quart basic Chicken Stock or 1 quart Basic Brown Soup Stock (recipes
follow)
2 cups dry red wine
1/4 cup olive oil
2 yellow onions, peeled and minced
6 large cloves garlic, chopped fine
2 ribs of celery, with leaves, minced
1 carrot, unpeeled and grated
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/2 pound fresh mushrooms
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon oregano
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
2 bay leaves, whole
1 tablespoon dried basil or 2 tablespoons fresh basil
2 cloves, whole
1/2 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons salt, or to taste
1 teaspoon sugar
Place the tomato puree, tomato paste, chicken or beef stock, and wine
in a large pot. Heat a frying pan and add the olive oil. Saute the
onions, garlic, celery and carrot until they just begin to brown a
bit. Add to the pot along with all remaining ingredients. Bring to a
light boil and then turn to a simmer. Simmer for 2 hours, partly
covered. Store in the refrigerator in plastic, glass or stainless
steel containers . . . never aluminum as the acid in the tomato will
"eat" the aluminum. The sauce will keep for a week in the
refrigerator.
Basic Chicken Stock
"There is no way that you can run a proper kitchen without having
fresh stocks on hand. If you buy commercially prepared products you
are generally getting little more than salt, and in a very expensive
form. I know it sounds like a lot of work, but to tell the truth
stocks are very easy to make, and they are not expensive. Cook one
day a week and fill the refrigerator and freezer with the blessed
liquids that free you to be creative and comforting when cooking.
Chicken stock is one of those necessary and comforting fluids."
3 pounds chicken backs and necks
4 ribs celery, coarsely chopped
6 carrots, unpeeled, sliced thick
2 yellow onions, peeled and quartered
8 peppercorns
Place the chicken backs and necks in a soup pot and rinse with very
hot tap water. Drain and add 3 quarts of fresh cold water to the pot,
along with the other ingredients. Bring to a simmer and cook for 2
hours. Be sure to skim the froth that forms when the pot first comes
to a simmer. The stock will taste a bit flat to you since it has no
salt. Salt will be added when you use the stock in the preparation of
soups, sauces or stews.
Basic Brown Soup Stock
Makes 5 quarts of stock
"The Old World has always had basic soup stocks on hand. The frugal
cook was not about to throw out anything since he could not afford our
luxury of waste. The bones of any and every creature were used for
stock, and the stock eventually became the basis of another meal, in
the form of either a soup, a sauce or a gravy. You will need to make
a batch of this now and then. It freezes well and it has a much
better flavor than the only other possible substitute, canned beef
stock. Please do not even think of using a bouillon cube. It is
nothing but salt!"
5 pounds bare beef rendering bones, sawed into 2-inch pieces
1 bunch carrots, unpeeled and chopped
3 yellow onions, unpeeled and chopped
1 bunch celery, chopped
Tell your butcher that you need bare rendering bones. They should not
have any meet on them at all, so they should be cheap. Have him saw
them up into 2-inch pieces.
Roast the bones in an uncovered pan at 400F for 2 hours. Be careful
with this, because your oven may be a bit too hot. Watch the bones,
which you want to be toasty brown, not black. Place the roasted bones
in a soup pot and add 1 quart water for each pound of bones. For 5
pounds of bones, add 1 bunch carrots, 1 bunch of celery, chopped, and
3 yellow onions, chopped with peel and all. (The peel will give
lovely color to the stock.)
Bring to a simmer, uncovered, and cook for 12 hours. You may need to
add water to keep soup up to the same level. Do not salt the stock.
Strain the stock, and store in the refrigerator. Allow the fat to
stay on top of the stock when you refrigerate it; the fat will seal
the stock and allow you to keep it for several days.
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