San Marzano Sunday Sauce
This is one of my all time favorite things to make. I stress using San Marzano tomatoes because they have a very specific and consistent flavor. You absolutely can use fresh tomatoes if they’re in season, and you’ll see that in other recipes, but often times, I’ll still go for the canned ones when I’m looking for that exact flavor. There are a lot of canned tomatoes that are similar to San Marzano, such as ‘San Marzano Style’ tomatoes. These are not the same as tomatoes from San Marzano, so keep an eye out for misleading packaging. Trader Joe’s carries a real San Marzano brand called Cento, which is also available at most supermarkets. It’s in a yellow can and is next to the rest of their tomato products. I prefer the whole tomatoes over ones that are pre-crushed, but you can go with whatever is available as long as they’re actually from the San Marzano region. This recipe takes some time, so it’s not something you can slap together for a quick weeknight meal. You can check out the Weeknight Red Sauce for something like that. This is a slow cooked sauce that really begins to develop deep flavors around the 2 hour mark, so it’s definitely worth the time and effort. If you’re looking for a faster style sauce, then look at the Weeknight Red Sauce post. The recipe produces a thicker home-style sauce, meaning it’s not going to be smooth like a store-bought jar. It will have all of the vegetables that we used to make this in the final sauce. We’ll look into the techniques for turning this exact sauce into a smooth sauce in another post.
Ingredients
2 cans San Marzano Whole Tomatoes
1 large carrot
2 medium shallots
1 medium onion
8 garlic cloves
2 stalks celery
3 medium cremini mushrooms
2 Bay leaves
2/3 cup red wine (TJ Charles Shaw Shiraz)
3 ounces Veal Stock (optional)
2 large tablespoons tomato paste
Kosher salt
Fresh Ground Black Pepper
1 tsp Crushed Red Pepper Flakes (to taste)
1Tbsp grated Pecorino Romano Cheese
1Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
1Tbsp Champagne Vinegar
Canola Oil
Prep
Carrot: Peel and rough chop into 1/2 inch pieces
Onion / Shallots: peel and medium dice
Garlic: peel and mince
Celery: wash, cut the tops and white bottoms off. Cut into 1/4 inch pieces.
Mushrooms: remove stems, wipe caps clean with a damp cloth, cut into thin slices (about 1/16th inch)
Canned Tomatoes: Separate the whole tomatoes from their sauce. These will be hand crushed into the pot later.
Cooking Directions
Heat some canola oil in a large saucepan over medium heat
Once the oil comes to temperature and is shimmering, add the garlic, carrots, onions, shallots, celery and mushrooms to the pan, with a pinch of salt.
Let these sweat for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. The vegetables should be soft and the onions should be translucent.
Turn the heat up to medium high for a 1-2 minutes. The vegetables should just begin to caramelize by this time.
Add your red wine to the pan and deglaze by scraping up any bits stuck to the pan.
Let the wine reduce by 2/3 over medium-high heat. About 2-3 minutes.
Add the tomato paste, stir to incorporate and continue cooking for another minute.
Just at the paste starts to caramelize to the bottom of the pan, add your veal (or chicken) stock to deglaze the pan again. Scrape up any bits just as you did before.
Take your separated tomato sauce, add it to the pan and stir to combine.
Take the whole tomatoes and hand-squeeze them into the pan. They should pop and release their juices when squeezed. Drop the squeezed tomato into the pan and repeat for the rest of the whole tomatoes.
Stir to combine
Add a good pinch of salt and a few shakes of the crushed red pepper.
Add the bay leaves.
Turn the heat to high and bring everything up to a boil for 15 seconds.
Turn the heat down to low, cover with a lid and let cook for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
After two hours, remove the lid and let it cook for another 15 minutes on low.
Add the vinegars (red wine and champagne). Add more to taste if desired.
Add the tablespoon of the grated Pecorino Romano cheese and stir to combine.
Adjust your salt seasoning to taste and add a few grounds of black pepper.
Remove from the heat
Taste. Adjust your seasonings if needed.
