Pasta Sauce Cooking Tips

Prepare the ingredients ahead of time to speed up preparation.

Homemade pasta sauce has a richer flavor than most purchased varieties. While pasta sauces are fairly simple to make and difficult to mess up, there are some techniques you can use to ensure you make the best sauce possible each time.

Fresh Tomatoes

While not necessary, fresh tomatoes, ripe and in-season, are a welcome addition to most pasta sauce recipes. Quickly skin the tomatoes by blanching them first. Bring a pot of water to a boil then dip the whole tomatoes in the boiling water for up to a minute, or until the skins split. Immediately dunk them in ice water. The tomatoes slide right out of their skins so you can dice or crush them to add to your sauce. Fresh tomatoes are watery and it takes a long time and a lot of tomatoes to cook down to a thick sauce. Speed up the process by adding a can or two of tomato paste to the fresh tomatoes to help thicken them.

Prep Work

Prepare additional vegetables before you begin to cook the sauce. Peel and slice onions, core and dice up peppers and prepare mushrooms and other additions ahead of time so everything is ready when you go to assemble your pasta sauce. If you like fresh garlic in your sauce, peel all the cloves you need ahead of time. To quickly peel garlic, lay a clove on the cutting board. Press on it firmly with the flat of a chef's knife, partially crushing the clove. The skin slips right off so you can proceed to mincing the clove. Brown the beef, if you are using it, then saute the vegetables with the beef for five minutes to help release their flavor before adding them to the sauce.

Seasoning

Pasta sauce works well with a variety of seasonings. To retain the flavor of the herbs, add them in the last 10 to 15 minutes of cooking time. Many herbs, particularly fresh ones, lose their flavor when simmered for a long a time. Oregano, basil, thyme and parsley are common pasta sauce herbs. You can also add sage, rosemary or cumin to the sauce also. Sugar, salt and pepper can be added at the beginning of the cooking time, as they do not lose their flavor.

Storage

Making extra sauce for a later use saves time, as it doesn't take any longer to make a double batch of pasta sauce than it does a single batch. Freeze the sauce in an airtight container for up to six months. Another option is to place the sauce in an ice cube tray and freeze. Once frozen transfer the ice cubes to a plastic bag and pull them out as you need them. Each ice cube is about 2 tbsp. worth of sauce. Most pasta sauces also can well, which allows you to store them for up to two years. Process pint jars of sauce in a pressure canner for 60 minutes. Process at 11 pounds of pressure if your altitude is under 2,000 feet, adding an additional pound for every additional 2,000 feet.

References

• University of Florida Extension: Selecting, Preparing, and Canning: Spaghetti Sauce with Meat
• "The Complete Tightwad Gazette"; Amy Dacyzyn; 1998