The entire last month, I posted A-Z recipes from Tamil Nadu. So this month I thought to posting recipes from other cuisines. When I was digging my archived recipes, I realized that I didn’t post this red sauce recipe at all. I have posted Pesto sauce and butternut squash sauce for pasta. Most of the times, I forget to post the very basic day-to-day recipes. Last month marathon, helped me to get back to the day-to-day Tamil Nadu recipes. :-) This month trying to post some easy and simple recipes from other cuisines too. So now back to this red sauce recipe, all you need to do is blanch the tomatoes and sauté with herbs and other ingredients. It’s as simple as that. So how did I use this sauce? You got to wait for the next recipe.
Ingredients:
Tomatoes – 5 to 6 Olive Oil – 3 tbsps (I used Extra Virgin Olive Oil) Garlic Cloves – 1 Shallots – 2 Mushrooms – ½ cup Salt – 1 tsp Pepper Powder – 1.5 tsp Sweet Paprika – ¼ tsp Oregano – ½ tsp Fresh Basil – around 10 leaves Water – as required for blanching
Prep Work:
Add water and tomatoes in a wide vessel and it simmer it till the tomato skin opens up. We are doing this to peel the tomato skin. So we don’t need to blanch it for a long time. It took me about 7 minutes. Drain the water and let it cool. Then peel the tomato skin and chop them into small chunks.
Peel the shallot and garlic skin and finely chop them.
Steps:
Heat the pan and add the olive oil. Once the oil is hot, add the finely chopped shallots and garlic and sauté them for couple of minutes.
Then add the mushrooms, salt and black pepper powder and mix well. Cook till the mushroom becomes tender.
Now add the blanched, chopped tomatoes, oregano and the paprika.
Mix and mash them well with a potato masher or with the wide ladle. Check for salt and spice and adjust at this stage accordingly. Let it simmer for about 5 minutes. Then add the chopped basil and let it simmer for couple more minutes.
That’s it. Yummy red sauce is ready. Serve this with pasta or with spaghetti. :-)
Notes:
Paprika is optional. It gives the additional kick and color. Other herbs like fresh or dried rosemary, thyme can be added too. Spinach and other veggies of your choice can be added. Adjust the salt and spice according to your preference.
📖 Recipe
