Recipes > Sun-dried Tomato Sauce
A rich and flavorful variation to the classic tomato sauce.
Dawn Thomas
- Serves: 8 to 10
- Active Time: 40 mins
- Total Time: 1 hr 40 mins
- Views: 57,295
- Success Rating: 96% (?)
Steps
Step 1: Preparing the Sauce
- 1 large onion
- 1 large garlic clove
- 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 - 24 oz can crushed tomatoes
- 1 - 28 oz can whole tomatoes
- 1 cup sun-dried tomatoes
- 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Method
To start, first roughly chop the onion. Peel and finely mince the garlic. Over medium to medium-low heat, cook the onions in the olive oil for a few minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant. Then add the tomato paste and cook another minute or two.
Next, add the crushed tomatoes, whole tomatoes and the sun-dried tomatoes. If the sun-dried tomatoes were packed in oil, be sure to drain them first. Add the pepper, salt, oregano, sugar and balsamic vinegar. Stir well.
Let the tomato sauce come to a gentle boil, stirring often. Cover, turn the heat to low and let simmer for an hour, stirring occasionally.
Step 2: Finishing the Sauce
Method
Once the tomato sauce has cooked, place a few scoops at a time into a food mill. If your food mill has interchangeable plates, use the plate with medium or large holes. Serve.
Chef's Notes
- by Dawn Thomas
- •
- October 20, 2006
Although this recipe may not be as quick as opening a can of tomato sauce the effort is truly worth it.
This sauce freezes very well.
16 Comments
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i do not have a food meal, what is the substitute love the receipe added more garlic, always do love garlic, i like to have a good amount of fiber in my diet and notice that the food meal extracts the fiber, how do you feel about this -
Hi Denise, I love the food mill because I love the texture and resulting consistency for this sauce and many soups. For me, this is an important part to great cooking. True, you are pulling out some of the fiber here but you can get this from so many other sources. As an alternative, you could simply chop things up much finer and then disregard the puree or food mill instructions. You will be left with a rustic (chunky) but equally flavorful sauce. Thanks for the comment. Joe -
thank you so much for your response Dawn. I made this sause this morning, i just love it. thank you
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Can I use a passatuto for this recipe?
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Rouxbe Staff
A passatuto should work. The holes may make the sauce quite fine. Best to try a bit and see how you like it. Cheers! -
Hi - I was just wondering if you had any tips on buying quality sun-dried tomatoes? I'm thinking about your advice to not buy canned tomatoes containing calcium chloride. Are there any extraneous ingredients to look out for when buying sun-dried tomatoes? Or - how to determine if you are buying quality sun-dried tomatoes? I've had some that are downright nasty and would like to avoid making the same mistake in the future. :)
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Here are some things to consider when buying sun-dried tomatoes: - be sure to check the expiration date. - look at the colour, they should be fairly bright red and fresh looking. - read the list of ingredients, there should be minimal ingredients listed. They should also be low in sodium. - if buying sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil (which I prefer), try to find ones that are packed in extra-virgin olive oil. I also avoid buying ones that contain other spices, as this is something that I like to control as I use them in a particular dish. - if buying oil-packed, glass jars are better than cans as the tomatoes tend to have a cleaner more pure taste, with no risk of tasting like the tin. The ones I buy at Costco come in a glass jar and they are great. In the end it just comes down to finding a brand that you like and then hope that they keep making and selling them :-) Again, the ones from Costco I have been buying for years and I have never been disappointed. Hope this helps. Cheers!
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So far I've made this recipe once, and everything was great minus the dried tomatos I used. I had a package of sun dried tomatos from trader joes which are dehydrated. I had all the other ingredients available. The look and feel of the sauce was beautiful but those dried-out tomatos were bitter and over-powering. I was really disappointed. Perhaps I should have rehydrated the tomatoes, would this have helped? Next time I'll have the proper sun dried tomatos available. -
Rouxbe Staff
Yes, you could rehydrate them before using but it really comes down to the brand/type of tomatoes. Some are tasty and some aren't so great. Taste them prior to using them and determine how much you think you would like in the dish. Cheers!
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Hi, Could you use this to make a richer "penne arrabiata" with some Italian Sausage meat or is this to strong tasting?
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Technically, you are free to use this sauce as you see fit; however, it is important to understand that you would no longer really be making an arrabbiata sauce. Just compare the ingredients of this arrabbiata sauce, to this sun-dried tomato sauce and you will see what I mean. Cheers!
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hi, can i use this recipe for pizza sauce? thanks.. -
Indeed you could use this as a pizza sauce. Cheers!
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I just made this sauce as an excuse to try out my new food mill. It turned out great. Thanks for another fantastic recipe. -
I want to serve this sauce with meatballs over the Christmas holidays while our sons are visiting. I would like to make fresh pasta noodles to go with this and to get my four year old granddaughter involved to help crank the pasta machine (with Papa's help). Also our motive is to demonstrate to our kids how easy it is to whip up a batch of fresh pasta dough. Will a fresh pasta noodle pair with this sauce? And, if so, what type of noodle would work best?
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Sure fresh pasta could work with this sauce — I would say that something more hearty like a fettuccini noodle would work best as this sauce is quite rich and hearty itself. Have fun making the pasta — what a fun idea to get the kids involved. Cheers!
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