Tomato and Basil Sauce
April 30th, 2011 in Sauces & Dips & Spreads by Julia Volhina
Total cooking time: 20min
This light tomato based sauce will add a hint of mediterranean cuisine to any dish.
It goes great with fried or grilled vegetables (e.g. zucchini and eggplants); seafood (mussels and shrimps) and meats; it also can be served as pasta sauce.
Sweet tomatoes are the best fit this recipe. If you prefer to remove seeds, choose pulpy tomatoes, it will be easier.
Ingredients:
- 1lb of tomatoes
- 2 garlic cloves
- Fresh basil
- Salt to taste
- Olive oil
How to prepare, step-by-step:
-
Prepare ingredients: take sweet pulpy tomatoes, rinse them with cold water, rinse basil as well:
Tomato and Basil Sauce Recipe: Step 1 -
Blanch tomatoes: for that bring cooking pot with water to boil, cut tip of each tomato cross-like and out them to the boiling water, for about 20-25 secs:
Tomato and Basil Sauce Recipe: Step 2 -
Then put tomatoes under cold running water, cool them down and remove skin (more info on how to blanch tomatoes here):
Tomato and Basil Sauce Recipe: Step 3 -
Slice each tomato in half, remove stem parts and puree tomatoes in blender. If you got good pulpy tomatoes you can also remove their seeds before pureeing, that will save you some time on cooking, but you will also throw out big part of tomatoes. I kept seeds in:
Tomato and Basil Sauce Recipe: Step 4 -
Warm up sauce pan with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Peel both garlic cloves and chop them into the warmed up pan:
Tomato and Basil Sauce Recipe: Step 5 -
Fry garlic over moderate heat until transparent, stir from time to time:
Tomato and Basil Sauce Recipe: Step 6 -
Pour tomato puree in:
Tomato and Basil Sauce Recipe: Step 7 -
Bring sauce to simmer and adjust heat so it keeps lightly simmering, cook sauce to reduce amount of liquid so sauce gets desired consistency (about thickness of heavy cream), then salt to taste and remove from burner:
Tomato and Basil Sauce Recipe: Step 8 -
Chop basil and add to the sauce pan:
Tomato and Basil Sauce Recipe: Step 9 -
And mix; tomato basil-garlic sauce goes great with grilled/fried vegetables or pasta:
Tomato and Basil Sauce
Some of my favorite taste profiles: tomatoes, basil, garlic!
How long is the shelve life of tomato and basil sauce ;is there any perservative needed in them?
hope to hear from you soon…thanks
If you keep it in fridge, it will be as good as fresh-made for couple of days, if you want to store it a bit longer – pour it the mason jar and cover with a layer of vegetable oil. If you need longer storage – I would suggest to not add basil to the sauce before storing in the fridge, and add it to the sauce right before serving (and store the tomato sauce in the fridge under the layer of oil).