When I put a picture on Twitter of my homemade tomato sauce, I got a bunch of requests for the recipe. I tweeted it to some, but it really takes more than 140 characters to explain the nuances keeping in mind it’s pretty simple.
I learned the basics of this sauce from a former girlfriend’s father who is from a small town in Italy. What I loved about his cooking was that everything was really tasty and after watching him in the kitchen (he loved to cook) I noticed that he used very few ingredients so everything was SUPER simple to make.
I try to stay true to his cooking philosophy but I have tweaked this recipe to make it my own.
Ingredients:
- Three medium cloves garlic
- Olive oil
- Three cans whole tomatos
- One cube bullion (chicken, beef or vegetarian)
- One large carrot
- One pound fresh ground turkey (don’t use the fat free)
- One bunch of fresh basil
- Salt and pepper
- Fresh pecorino cheese
Chop the garlic and cook in a braiser pan until fragrant (did I really just write that? I’ve never written out a recipe before, so bear with me).
Once the garlic is slightly browned, add three cans of tomatoes, the bullion cube and a large carrot. I think the idea of the carrot is to keep the mixture from getting bitter (the tomato seeds can cause that). Cook down for about 45-50 minutes. I prefer to cook the mixture down to thicken it rather than adding tomato paste (adding the paste can reduce the cooking time). I think tomato paste tends to make the final product too sweet.
In a separate pan, brown the turkey adding salt and pepper to taste. Drain the fat and set it aside.
After the tomatoes are cooked down, remove the carrot (you can discard, but I like to eat it) add the cooked turkey and continue to simmer for at least 15 minutes.
While the turkey is simmering in the sauce, remove the stems from the basil leaves and rinse and dry them thoroughly. Chop the basil and add it for the last five minutes (at most).
Add more salt and pepper to taste and voila!
I serve a generous portion of sauce over whole wheat pasta and garnish with a helping of freshly grated pecorino.
Let me know what you think!
