teeming masses: flavoring tomatoes?

[anotheranon]

geekchick's posting about a new spice shop opening up nearby reminded me:

A week or so ago I got bored of the usual and tried this chicken Makhani. Smelled great in the pan, was warm but flavorless on the tongue. Salt helped, but not much. All of which is a damn pity because I love tomato sauces when prepared well but have never been able to mix one myself that doesn't resemble wallpaper paste.

If anyone has any recommendations of how to make tomato sauce (be it Indian, Italian or other) more tomatoey ("tomato++"?) I'd love to hear it.

Comments

[jlsjlsjls.livejournal.com]

With all that stuff in the sauce you should have had some sort of flavour ... very odd.

Are you using canned tomato sauce as a base or chopping and cooking the real round red things to make your own? I ask because most hothouse tomatoes sold in grocery stores are totally lacking in flavour and the acid that enhances said flavour. For actual flavour you're going to have to trial and error your way through the organic ones (organic can still be hothouse, which = flavourless ... you want something grown in DIRT!).

If canned, try buying Italian or garlic tomato sauce (not pasta sauce ... this is stuff you should find shelved with the regular tomato sauces and pastes) ... I like using these as a sauce base because they're already jazzed up so anything I add is a bonus.

Your very BEST bet ... hit the local farmers markets in summer, stew up your own sauce outa the real thing, and freeze it (to save space you can get it solid in any old plastic containers, then pop it out and dump the red ice lumps in a big plastic shopping bag and back in the freezer ... my mother does this all the time). The alternative to freezing it is to learn the fine old art of canning and keep it in your basement. :p

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

Yep - canned, store brand. There is likely an organic or at least "italian" version at my local grocery, so I will look for that next time I attempt this.

I don't know how to can, but sometimes I think it might not be a bad thing to learn, just for economic reasons. Unfortunately, most of the things that I grew up thinking were "cannable" were things like jams and jellies that I don't usually eat.

[jlsjlsjls.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure it's Hunt's brand tomato sauces that I use (I'm out right now, but will confirm next time I'm grocery shopping) ... just checked their site and they have a line of organic tomato sauces that includes two different garlic versions. :-)

Canning is reasonably simple, even if it does make your kitchen temporarily look like a disaster zone (being a farm kid, I grew up with my parents' biannual cucumber relish-making, homemade ketchup, and all kinds of other non-jam/non-jelly stuff). Make sauce, pour into sterilized jars, pour in layer of paraffin wax to create seal, put lid on jar once wax has hardened. Store. Oh, and, if you're my mother, threaten my father with painful death if he even THINKS about "tightening" all the lids when he's in the cellar on other business ***GRIN*** (Dad was compulsive tightener of anything with screw threads, but overtightening changes the air pressure between wax and lid and can compromise the wax seal, causing a nasty jar full of mold)

[jlsjlsjls.livejournal.com]

P.S. Several shakes of tabasco or cayenne pepper (stored in the dark or it loses its potency) are great flavour enhancers (either one will also make homemade cheese sauce taste cheesier ... as does a heaping teaspoonful of dry mustard ... dunno why, but it works).

Recipe for spaghetti/chili sauce

[(Anonymous)]

We have this about once a week - thought I'd pass it! :) It's easy for weeknights because all the ingredients can come from your pantry or freezer. It is quite filling - we eat it over pasta. I make it quite spicy but that can be adjusted to suite your tastes.

Ingredients:
Pomi brand chopped tomatoes (can be found in the tinned food aisle in long-life paper cartons)
Jar of Bertolli or Newman's Own spaghetti sauce (tomato & basil flavor or similar)
Minced garlic to taste
Oregano
Red/Cayenne pepper
Chili powder
Black pepper
Salt
Olive oil
Optional:
-Morningstar Farms fake hamburger crumbles (called MealStarters)
-chopped onions & other veggies (zuccini work well)
-Bush's chili beans (mild hotness)

Instructions:
Warm a few tablespoons olive oil in frying pan. Then put in a generous amount of the chopped tomatoes (maybe 1/2 the carton) & 1/3 to 1/2 of the jar of spaghetti sauce, plus the garlic, & hefty shakes of the oregano & chili powder. Then add the following to taste: red pepper, salt & black pepper. Let all that warm up & simmer for a few minutes while stirring occasionally. You want to give the oregano & chili powder time to dissolve & really soak into the sauce.
Then add half the bag of fake hamburger crumbles and your chopped onions & veggies. Let the crumbles get nice & warm, & the veggies should get a little soft.
Last, strain the chili beans in their can first & then add them to the pan. When everything is good & warm & your sauce has thickened up a bit, you are done!
-L.