Amazing Italian Pasta Sauces
Today I want to talk about one of my favorite subjects–cooking. More specifically, Italian cooking.
I’ve shared our signature Sunday spaghetti and meat sauce recipe before, so today I wanted to share a great tip on fresh tomatoes in pasta sauces.
Unfortunately, tomato season is over for us, but we can still find some fresh heirloom tomatoes at the local grocery store. These large, maroon, gnarly tomatoes are wonderful in sauces.
Do you know the secret to cooking good sauce from fresh tomatoes?
You need to skin the tomato, which is easier said than done. However, there’s a trick to this… with a small, sharp pairing knife, carefully slit a shallow X at the bottom of the tomato. Bring a pot of water to a mild boil, and using a large slotted spoon, parboil the tomatoes for no more than 1 minute. Immediately scoop out the tomatoes and plunge into a bowl of ice water.
Let cool, and the skin will literally come right off with minimal effort.
Skins do not break down in sauces, and they shred apart, leaving tiny rolled up tubes in your sauce… and that is not good eats!
This tip comes from the excellent Craftsy cooking course, Classic Italian Pasta Sauces, from chef Giuliano Hazan. If you ever wanted to cook authentic, rustic Italian tomato and meat-based sauces, this class is a must-watch. I never knew how simple a tomato sauce could be; in fact, there is one particular family recipe Chef Hazan shares that only has four ingredients–none of which is olive oil, parsley, or basil!
I love to turn the class on via our family iPad and watch it while I prepare dinner. Chef Hazan is a great instructor and his recipes are simply incredible… the one family recipe pictured above is so amazing it’s now one of our go-to staples. And did I mention how easy it is? You can literally throw this together in minutes, cook on the stove, and then serve immediately with your choice of steaming pasta.
Click here to check out “Classic Italian Pasta Sauces” and get the class at a discount.
See you next week,
Josh
