Pomarola: Fresh Tuscan Tomato Sauce

Last year I met Marta for the first time. Can you believe we connected on Instagram!

We did a cooking class in California while she was here for her vacation. We taught a few friends how to make pasta and bread from scratch and it was one of the best memories of the summer. (And this summer, too). Little did we know, it would be the start of the Simple Cooking Cooking Show.

This was the first recipe Marta shared with me. Since Marta was on vacation and couldn’t make the sauce, I felt a lot of pressure to follow the recipe just right. It was my first time meeting Marta. As a chef, tasting a dish IS the first impression. So I made her, her Pomarola sauce. Luckily, I impressed Marta. We still talk about it today and we both can’t wait for the next time we cook together in person. In California or Italy, we’ll invite you to join us. 🤗

Pomarola: fresh Tuscan tomato sauce

Adapted from Marta’s recipe

Ingredients:

10 lbs. tomato (about 4kg), halved
5 garlic cloves, diced
2-3 T Olive oil
2 medium red onion, chopped
5 medium carrots, chopped
4 celery ribs, chopped
2 bay leafs
30 basil leaves
Fresh cracked pepper
1 tsp salt

Directions:

*This is for an obscene amount of tomatoes. Scale back the recipe by half or more and results will be just as good!

Heat your largest pot and cook onions in olive oil a couple minutes. Then add carrots and celery. Stir for 5 minutes or until onions is starting to turn translucent. Add in garlic and stir well for a minute or two. Then, add in tomatoes. Stir and bring to a boil. Add in bay leaves and half of the basil now. Also add salt and some pepper. Then, lower heat and simmer with partial lid on for 1-2 hours or until tomatoes have reduced by half or more. Stir every 15-30 minutes with wooden spoon to prevent sauce from burning.

Let cool after it’s done cooking. Then, remove bay leaves. Blend or use a food mill to process sauce. Place sauce back in pot and add remaining basil. Heat sauce further (on low) if you want it thicker. Keeps at least a week in the fridge.