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Tomato Sauce (Pint tomatoes canned or fresh)
1 pint tomatoes, canned or fresh 1 small onion, cut fine 1 small carrot, sliced 2 tablespoons oil 1/4 cup flour 1/2 clove garlic, if desired 1/2 bay leaf, if desired 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon thyme Simmer the onion, carrot, tomato, garlic, bay leaf, and oil together for ten minutes. Stir in the flour, which has been stirred smooth with a little cold water. Rub through a fine strainer. Add the salt and thyme, and water to thin if too thick.
A plain vegetable-thickened tomato sauce, closer to a light coulis than to a long-simmered Italian sauce. The only real technical issue is the flour, which goes in late and needs attention.
- Cook the flour outThe flour slurry is added after the vegetables have simmered, so it gets very little cooking. Let the sauce bubble gently for at least five minutes after it thickens, stirring, or the finished sauce will taste pasty.
- A pint of tomatoesTwo cups, which is roughly a 14- to 15-oz can with its juice, or about 1 lb of fresh ripe tomatoes, chopped. Fresh tomatoes may need longer than the stated ten minutes, and may want a pinch of sugar.
- Ten minutes is shortSliced carrot will not be soft in ten minutes unless it is cut thin. Slice it no thicker than a coin, or give the vegetables fifteen to twenty minutes before straining.
- StrainingPressing through a fine strainer is what gives this sauce its smoothness; the body comes largely from the flour. A food mill with the fine plate does the same job faster; a blender will give a thicker, cloudier sauce, and you may want less flour.
- Thyme goes in at the endAdding dried thyme after straining, as written, leaves it raw and gritty. Half a teaspoon of dried leaf is a good deal for two cups of sauce; warm it in the sauce for a few minutes rather than stirring it in off the heat.
- The oilTwo tablespoons of a neutral or mild olive oil. Butter can be substituted measure for measure.
- YieldAbout 1 1/2 to 2 cups after straining and thinning, enough to sauce four servings of pasta, rice, croquettes or a loaf. It keeps three or four days refrigerated and freezes well.