Author Notes
About a year ago I was dealing with a massive amount of tomatoes and basil from a friend's garden. I was about to start on my sauce when I heard "Chef Academy" in the background and Jean Cristophe Novelli teaching his grandmother's recipe for tomato sauce. I attempted to replicate his recipe with the ingredients I had on hand and ended up using Chinese five spice in place of his star anise and came to the conclusion that I loved five spice tomato sauce. I make big batches of it and use it as a sauce for: chicken, fish, noodles, vegetables, tempeh, on sandwiches, to poach eggs, to flavor beans, as a cold dip or just a spoonful on it's own. —EdMac
Ingredients
-
2 tablespoons
olive oil
-
4 pounds
tomatoes (any kind you have) cored and halved
-
6 cloves
Garlic, chopped
-
1 tablespoon
Chinese Five Spice
-
1 tablespoon
Honey
-
2 teaspoons
Crushed red pepper
-
1/2 teaspoon
Vanilla Extract
-
1 bunch
Basil, stemmed and roughly chopped
-
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
-
Coat the bottom of a large saucepan with olive oil and bring to medium high heat. Add tomatoes cut side down.
-
Season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook for 20 minutes
-
Using a hand masher, mash tomatoes. Add five spice, honey, crushed red pepper, garlic and vanilla extract.
-
Lower heat and let simmer uncovered for about an hour, stirring occasionally. Add the chopped basil and simmer for approx. 20 minutes until it has the consistency of thick jam. Taste and adjust seasonings.
See what other Food52ers are saying.