Cold Sauce (No-Cook Sauce)

If basil is in season so are tomatoes- why on earth would you make something like this with canned tomatoes, which always taste like can until they've been cooked a bit?

any ideas on whether you can freeze this?

NB: The recipe says to use a #10 can of tomatoes, which is 6 pounds and 6 ounces. That appears to be a mistake, because that would put almost thirteen ounces of sauce on each serving of pasta. I use two "large" (28 ounces) of San Marzanos for this, and it seems to be the perfect ratio of basil, etc. to tomatoes. I also add a pinch of sugar if the tomatoes have too much "bite." ;o)

The variations suggested in the comments sound excellent! ;o)

My sister-in-law is Sicilian and does a similar and delicious version of this recipe. Whiz everything in the blender with the addition of some raw almonds and pour over the hot pasta. No overnight refrigeration required. Fresh plum tomatoes work the best.

I've been making a variant of this for years- add salty olives and garlic, purée the whole sauce, and stir it over hot spaghetti. The pasta just sucks the sauce right up, and the whole thing is done in the time it takes to boil the water and cook the noodles.

WOAH! This is amazing! This will definitely become part of my repertoire. In Florida I am always looking for ways to cook but not be stuck in the kitchen! :) Soooo easy!!!

Done it!
Awesome dish!

This was a regular "cold" side dish on the salad bars of Elby's back in the 1970 - 90s. Always put it on my plate. Can't wait to make some.

What is "#10 can crushed tomatoes"? A 28 ounce can?

Also had this for lunch today as a sauce for dymnyno's zuccaghetti--it was really good!

I made this over the weekend--as I was getting the ingredients together, I realized that a #10 can of crushed tomatoes contains 12 cups (!). So I used a 750 ml box of Pomi crushed tomatoes and cut the rest of the ingredients to 1/3 (1 cup basil, 2 cloves garlic, 2 TB olive oil), and that seemed about right. I also started with 1/2 tsp. salt and 6 turns of freshly ground black pepper for the overnight refrigeration. Roxanne doesn't tell us what to do with the garlic; I smashed 2 cloves and let them sit in the sauce overnight, then fished them out the next day. This gave the sauce a garlic essence without overpowering it. However, raw garlic lovers (not me) could just mince up the cloves and keep them in the sauce. I found that the oil blended in better if I let the sauce come to room temperature first. Roxanne recommends pouring it cold over hot spaghetti. I thought that it cooled off the pasta too much, even at room temperature. It benefitted from being warmed slightly. The sauce certainly comes together easily and is a good base for whatever you like in a pasta (or pizza) sauce. The variations are endless--saute some onion in the oil before mixing it into the sauce; some chopped oregano and parsley from the garden; add some red pepper flakes and/or some minced anchovies; stir in a little ricotta cheese. In this hot weather, it was nice to have prepared sauce the night before and not have to heat up the kitchen.

Do you leave the garlic cloves whole? Chop them? Slice them?

Never heard sauce prepared this way, but it totally makes sense. Would be great for a dinner al fresco!

Sounds great! Have never thought to do this, but it makes great sense. And it's perfect for the hot weather. Yummmmm. ;o)