Yield: 24 servings
Prep and cooking time: 20 minutes
Difficulty: Beginner
Ingredients
1/4 lb whole unsalted butter
1/2 lb roughly chopped shallots
1-1/2 tsp fine table salt, or 2 tsp coarse salt
4 35-oz cans of Roma tomatoes
Directions
1. Heat the butter in a large stock pot until the foam subsides but without coloring it, then add the shallots and salt.
2. Sweat (do not brown or caramelize) the shallots over moderate heat.
3. When the shallots become soft and translucent, turn off the heat, add the tinned Romas, stir the pot, crush them with your hand, bring the mixture to a bare simmer, and cook it very gently for five minutes only.
4. After five minutes’ simmering, purée it with a stick blender, taking care not to create a whirlpool, or purée it in batches in a food processor. Never use a bench blender; it will incorporate too much air, making the sauce frothy and giving it an unfortunate pink color.
5. Correct the seasoning, portion it in zip top bags, and freeze. Count on a half-cup of sauce per adult serving. Rather than labeling each bag, you can keep them in a labeled plastic container which can be stacked conveniently among others containing frozen liquid ingredients such as stocks and broths.
Tip: Purging air from the bags is easy. Submerge each in a large vessel of water, zipper up, with one corner above the water’s surface. Open the bag at that corner, then quickly re-seal it: the water will force out the air.
Here’s part 2 of the companion video (recipe continues below).
Variations
You can add diced tomatoes, roasted tomatoes, vegetables, dried herbs, spices, garlic, black pepper, red pepper, wines, extra-virgin olive oil, broths, meats, seafood, whatever you like, on the spot whenever you use it. For a marinara, add a little diced raw tomato, some dried savory and marjoram, and a little extra butter, then garnish the dish with fresh basil chiffonade and grated Parmigiano Reggiano. For a Bolognese, brown some ground beef lightly, add milk, wine, and whatever flavorings you prefer, simmer it uncovered until it’s nearly dry, add the sauce, warm it through, and correct the seasoning. For a puttanesca (illustrated in the companion video), sauté chopped garlic, anchovies, capers, red pepper flakes, and chopped olives in a skillet with extra-virgin olive oil over medium heat briefly until fragrant, then add the sauce and heat it through. For a spectacular ragoût, brown three or four beef short ribs very well in a heavy sauté pan, remove the excess grease, add the sauce thinned with water or brown stock, and simmer gently, bones down and covered, for 90 minutes or so, adding water or brown stock occasionally as needed.
It also makes a fine pizza sauce, with the addition of some garlic and fresh basil. Or you can use it instead of tomato paste or fresh tomatoes in any light sauce for seafood or white meats. You can even caramelize a portion of it in the oven and use it in brown sauces or barbecue sauce, or as a base for homemade ketchup. Indeed, this sauce will go in any culinary direction you please, save you time, and reduce the inevitable cleanup. It is literally the only tomato sauce you need to master: everything else is secondary to it, a mere matter of style and flavoring.
