Tomato sauce is a rather popular sauce especially with children. This could be because of its sweet taste or that it goes well with spaghetti and just about any other pasta dish. It is also pretty easy to make especially if you do not have any special kitchen skills. This is a sauce that you can literally whip up in no time.
Origin of Tomato Sauce
Did you know that tomato sauce originates from Mexico? Well, to be more specific, this sauce was used as an ancient condiment in Mesoamerican food. The first recordings of this sauce come from Bernardino de Sahagun who described the sauce as being sold in the ancient markets of Tenochtitlan- or as you probably know it-Mexico City.
This is what he wrote about the sauce:
“They sell some stews made of peppers and tomatoes, usually put in them peppers, pumpkin seeds, tomatoes, green peppers and fat tomatoes and other things that make tasty stews.”
-Florentine Codex (1540-1585)
‘Salsa de tomate rojo o jitomate’, the Mexican tomato sauce was prepared using a key ingredient which was ‘molcajete’ which was added so that it could help to puree the tomatoes.
Eventually, the Spaniards helped to distribute tomatoes all over Europe.
History and background
Despite what most people think, tomatoes were actually introduced to Italian cuisine sometime around the 16th century. However, it is a commonly repeated misconception that tomato sauce has been a key element in Italian cuisine. Nevertheless, the sauce has almost become synonymous with Italian cuisine as it accompanies several Italian dishes such as meatballs, vegetables, sausage, bacon cubes, tuna and of course- almost any pasta dish you can think of.
You are probably also aware that tomato sauce is a key ingredient in pizza. However, what you might not know is that pizza is prepared using a special kind of the sauce- alla pizzaiola or garlic-tomato sauce.
How to make tomato sauce
As I have already mentioned, making this sauce is pretty easy. Basically, all you need to do is:
- Mix the ingredients in a saucepan and let them cook
- You can use all of a few of the following to flavor your sauce- salt, herbs, spices. In a few cases, you can even add in chopped meat.
- You can add some water or maybe wine in order to prevent the sauce from drying out, but also to give it more taste.
What goes well with tomato sauce?
A couple of things actually. Because of how tasty it is or maybe how easy it is to make, you can eat tomato sauce with a variety of meals. Generally, most pasta dishes go great with tomato sauce. You can also choose to serve it with meatballs, sausages or even bacon. However, if you make a light sauce, you can pair it with some bread for a quick snack. Other people prefer having their tomato sauce with a nice bowl of rice. However, this sauce usually has a few pieces of meat in it.
Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
- 25 ml Vegetable oil
- 2 pcs medium onions chopped
- 2 cloves Garlic minced
- 1 pcs Carrot grated
- 10 pcs Large Tomatoes peeled seeded and chopped
- 7 ml salt
- 5 ml sugar
- 1/4 tsp pepper
Instructions
- Take a large saucepan and heat the oil.
- Sauté onions in oil over medium heat for about 10 minutes until softened.
- Add the garlic and carrot and cook for 5 more minutes.
- Stir in tomatoes, sugar, salt and pepper. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a simmer.
- Reduce the heat to medium and let is simmer covered for 20 minutes.
