Italian
The Bearded Lady’s Tomato Sauce
- Prep time 20 minutes
- Cook time 1 hour
- Serves 4-6
Author Notes
This is a “Recipe Off-Roading” variation on Marcella Hazan’s Tomato Sauce with Onion & Butter.
The addition of the sun dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, vermouth, and Parmesan rind provide some depth in a salute to my mother’s 2-day sauce, and the grape tomatoes add fresh sweetness. Toss the sun dried tomatoes in a food processor for less meatiness, and use an immersion blender to blend it at the end if you prefer a more uniform texture. You can also add an additional cup of vermouth when you add the parmigiano reggiano rind if you like slightly looser “gravy” style sauce.
—A. H. G. Clements
What You'll Need
Ingredients
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1
28 oz. Can San Marzano Peeled Tomatoes
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1
Large Vidalia (or other sweet) Onion
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5 tablespoons
5 tbsp Unsalted Butter
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3
Cloves Garlic
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1/4 cup
Sun Dried Tomatoes Packed in Olive Oil
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1/3 cup
Roasted Red/Yellow Peppers Packed in Water
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1 pint
Yellow Grape Tomatoes
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1 tablespoon
Reserved Oil From Sun Dried Tomatoes
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1 teaspoon
Olive Oil
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1/2+* cups
Dry Vermouth (see recipe)
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1
Parmigiano Reggiano Rind
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Salt & Pepper (to taste)
Directions
- Prep your ingredients: Wash grape tomatoes. Cut onion in half (top to root, not along equator) and peel. Chop one half to a medium dice and leave the other half intact. Coarsely mince garlic cloves. Coarsely mince sun dried tomatoes. Coarsely mince roasted peppers. Cut butter into 1 tbsp pats. Crush canned tomatoes by hand or using fork.
- Set burner to medium heat and add 1 tbsp reserved sun dried tomato olive oil and 1 tbsp butter to Dutch oven. Once the butter has melted, add diced 1/2 onion and just enough salt to sweat them. Cook about 5-7 minutes until the onion has softened, but is still mostly opaque.
- Add grape tomatoes and a *splash (1-2 tbsp) of Vermouth and cover. Cook 5 minutes until tomatoes have softened and wrinkled a bit.
- Uncover and add red pepper and sun dried tomatoes. Cover and cook another 2-3 minutes.
- Uncover and clear a spot on the bottom of the Dutch oven free from the other ingredients. Add 1 tsp olive oil and add minced garlic. Cook 30 seconds-1 minute until fragrant and then mix in to the rest of the ingredients.
- Add 1/2 cup of vermouth to pan and scrape up browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Cook until evaporated, about 1 minute or so.
- Add canned tomatoes, the other 1/2 of the onion, and remaining 4 tbsp butter to Dutch oven. Lower burner so that tomatoes bubble at a low simmer. Continue to lightly crush the tomatoes, leaving some chunks for texture.
- After 20 minutes, add Parmigiano Reggiano rind to the pot and continue to simmer for 20-25 minutes until thickened to your desired level.
- Remove the Parmigiano Reggiano rind and 1/2 onion. Check for salt and pepper and add to taste- given the amount of salt in the sun dried tomatoes and roasted pepper, you may not need to add any.
- Serve over 1 lb. cooked pasta with freshly grated Parmesan cheese, or on top of toasted bread slices with Parmesan shavings for an appetizer.
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