Marinara sauce ( Mother Sauce ) 義大利蕃茄紅醬( 媽媽醬 )

My grandpa was a big food critic on our family dinning table. He would say,” Hmm .... Today’s rice is taste better than yesterday chicken has be weighed certain pounds to be taste good, not to big not to small and it has to be organic for sure. As a little kid for me, rice is rice, blanched chicken is just chicken. They are no differences. Why he always made a big deal of them. The first few years my husband and I came to American. We started to experienced some Italian food. we all felt that was just the same acidity tomato sauce, so what ..... . As 10, 20 years past by, we has been experiencing lots of tomato sauces for sure. Now, my husband can even tell what is the spice in the sauce. This Italian tomato sauce does take lots knowledge to make it good. Of course, I totally understand what my grandpa was talking about now. Something you just need to take times to understand it. That’s why I got to make my own tomato sauce, and this recipe has been very stable in Lucy’s kitchen for 4-5 years now. I hope you will like it too!

Preparations time : 5-10 minutes.

Cooking time : 30minutes.

Serving : Enough for 1 pound of pasta and more left.

Ingredients:

1. 2 cans of tomato ( whole, crushed, pure, ) just pick up the texture that you like.

* I personally like smooth pured, easy for my picky family members.

* If you are using the fresh medium size tomatoes, you will need at least 8 medium size tomatoes equal to one can of tomato, just lightly sliced a cross mark on the bottom of the tomatoes, then add in the boiling water to cook about 2 minutes. Take it out cool it down in the cold water. Tomato skins should be very easy to peel it off. Move it to the large bowl, you can squeeze them to tiny pieces like Italian grandma will do, but I prefer use scissors just roughly cut trough it, or simply blend it in the food processor.

* Some people might take out the seed, but if it doesn't has too much seeds in it. I think that will be just fine.

*All kind of verity tomatoes are taste different. The color will show different too. I love to use can tomatoes. It’s very convenient and inexpensive.

2. 1 medium size of onion, diced.

3. 3-4 cloves of garlic, minced.

4. 1 stalk celery break in half.

5. 1 tablespoon of dry basil.

6. 1 tablespoon of dry parsley leaves.

7. 1 teaspoon of dry oregano.

8. 1 teaspoon of dry rosemary, crushed well. Better for the texture!

* If I am making meatballs with this tomatoes sauce. I will add in 1 teaspoon of finely ground fennel seed to the sauce. It will accomplish with meatballs very well.

*You could just get a Italian spice season for convenient use. But, I like to know all different of spice, so I could play around with them wisely.

9. 1 tablespoon of or tomato paste, or soy sauce will do. This will give you the nice deep red color and great depth to the tomato sauce.

10. 1 can of chicken broth.

11. 1 can of water from can of chicken broth..

12. 4 oz of apple sauce, or just graded 1 medium size apple.

13. Salt and fresh ground black pepper.

14. 1 teaspoon sugar or more, dependent on your own taste.

15. 1/4 cup dry white wine.

16. 1 handful of fresh flat parsley about 1/2 cup, no chopping necessary, and more when you ready to serve.

Avoid the stainless or cast iron pot when you are making the acidity sauce which really bring in that sharpness taste. You can call me crazy, but I spoke to couple Italian foodies. We all agree on this matter !

Have a sauce pot ready, add in the cold good olive oil, garlic, turn heat on medium low, sauté it to light golden brown, follow the diced onion right away, add few salt to help onion get tender fast, sauté it to soft and transparent. Keep adding in the basil, oregano, and rosemary, stir well till fragrance, goes in the soy sauce or tomato paste. Let the heat brings out the flavors and color too.

* Most of time I would make sure sauté garlic to light golden brown, to get that deep mild garlicky flavors, but if I am doing seafood or during the summer time. I will just simple sauté the garlic a little which will remain more acidity and perfect refresh with seafood.

Now, it is time for the chicken broth, apple sauce, celery, a handful of fresh parsley. Season with salt, fresh ground black pepper and a touch of sugar for your own personal taste. Don't forget the dry white wine, and fill half can of water from chicken broth, then add in the pot too.

*You could simply add the celery in the sauce to make the sauce then take it out after it cooked, or you could diced the celery to sauté with onion in the beginning. This way, sauce color might look lighter in red, compared you just simply add it!!! But the taste are not much different.

*The sugar and acidity leaves in the apple sauce could balance the tomato sauce acidity. I often heard Italian tomato is sweeter than American tomato. But I am not willing to compromise with higher prices for that can of import tomato. This apple sauce are my best secret ingredients for sure!!! High heat to bring it to boiled, then turn heat low to simmer, keep sauce with small bubbles, stir every 5-10 minutes at least, scarp down the sauce from the side of pot to keep it clean and reach the bottom of pot. This way will avoid the sauce get burn, simmer about 30-45 minutes. Light tomatoes sauce should be reduced and thicken enough to coat on a spoon, so it will have enough weight to stay with inter ingredients.

Discard the cook down fresh parsley.

Now, You have this flavor well balanced awesome mother sauce to make all kinds of lovely Italian dishes to be enjoyed! Storage this sauce in the sterilized containers in the refrigerator. It could keep up to one week! Cook with chicken, pork, fish and vegetables will be pretty amazing !!! Any questions???

我爺爺曾經是餐桌上的大吃貨. 每每用餐時他常說, “ 今天的米飯比昨天的好吃” 雞隻一定要達到一定的重量, 才會美味可口”. 對於年幼的我來說, 米飯就是米飯, 白斬雞就是雞而已. 它們是沒有不同, 幹嘛每次都要特別強調. 我和老公來美國的前幾年我們開始嘗試義大利菜, 我和老公也覺得蕃茄紅醬不過是酸酸的醬汁而已, 那又怎樣 ..... . 然而10年, 20年過去了. 我們當然也吃過了不少的義大利紅醬. 現在連我老公都可以告訴你醬裡面用的香料. 這簡單的義大利蕃茄紅醬當然大有學問的. 所以我現在能了解爺爺所說的一切了. 有些事就是需要花時間才能夠體會的. 接下來, 我當然要做出屬於自己的蕃茄紅醬囉！這意式紅醬的做法在露西蘇的在廚房已經固定有4,5年了. 希望你也會喜歡!!!

準備時間 : 5-10 分鐘.

烹調時間：30分鐘.

足夠用於1磅的義大利麵且還有剩餘.

材料:

1. 2瓶罐裝的蕃茄罐頭. ( 整顆的, 碎的, 或是已經泥狀的 ) , 依你自己口感的喜好做選擇. 我個人喜歡泥狀的, 因為我家挑嘴的成員沒得挑.

* 如果你要用新鮮的中型蕃茄的話, 至少要用上8顆以上的中型蕃茄, 相當於一瓶罐頭的量. 只需要在蕃茄的底部輕輕的畫上十字型, 放入燒開的滾水中大約燙個兩分鐘, 然後撈起入冷水冷卻, 蕃茄皮應該就很容易剝落的. 移置大碗中, 你可以像義大利祖母一樣用手把它們捏碎, 但是我比較喜歡用剪刀把他們大至上剪爛, 又或者是就放入食物處理機將這些去了皮的蕃茄打碎.

* 有些人喜歡去掉蕃茄籽. 但是, 我覺得如果蕃茄籽不是很多, 其實是不須要的!

2. 1 顆中型尺寸的洋蔥切碎末.

3. 3-4 顆蒜頭粒切碎末.

4. 1 株西洋芹折對半.

5. 1 大匙的羅勒乾香料.

6. 1 大匙的巴西利乾香料.

7. 1 小匙的牛至乾香料.

8. 1 小匙的迷迭香乾香料. 輾碎後的口感比較好!

* 如果我要做的是肉丸子配上義式紅醬, 我會加入1茶匙磨碎的小茴香來綜合肉丸子裡的味道. 它們在一起的味道非常融洽!

*你也可以買瓶義大利香料使用. 但是我喜歡認識所有的香料, 這樣我就可以廣泛的運用.

9. 1 大匙的蕃茄膏或是醬油. 因為它們可以帶給蕃茄紅醬漂亮的顏色, 而且味道更有深度.

10. 1 罐雞高湯.

11. 1 罐4oz 的蘋果泥, 或是1 顆中型蘋果磨成泥狀.

12. 塩和現磨的黑楜椒粉.

13. 1茶匙的糖或多些, 依據自己的口味做調整.

14. 1/4 杯的白酒.

15. 1 把平葉的巴西利約半杯, 無須切碎. 更多一些上桌前使用.

* 避免使用不鏽鋼鍋或鐵鍋烹煮會帶酸味的菜色. 它會帶來一種很尖銳的味道. 你可以認為我瘋了, 但是我問過許多義大利的老饕. 他們和我很同意這一回事.

備好鍋子, 使用好的橄欖油, 冷油和蒜末一起入鍋, 中小火炒至蒜末呈現淡金黃色, 隨後馬上放入洋蔥末, 灑許鹽能夠促進洋蔥的軟化, 炒至洋蔥呈現柔軟透明.

持續加入羅勒, 牛至, 和迷迭香炒至香氣釋出. 再加入醬油或者是濃縮蕃茄膏, 讓熱氣帶出香味和顏色.

* 大部分的時候我會把蒜末炒至金黃色, 使其味道具有深度溫和. 但是如果我要做的是海鮮或是在夏天的季節裡. 我則簡單的炒香, 因為這樣蒜的酸味就可以讓海鮮保持清爽的味道.

現在是時候加入雞高湯和蘋果泥, 芹菜段, 然用塩巴和新鮮的黑楜椒, 及一點的糖依照自己的口味做調整. 別忘了加入白酒和半罐的水使用同一個蕃茄罐頭測量.

*你可以簡單地加入芹菜到醬汁裡面, 煮熟後再取出棄之. 你也可以將青菜切丁, 一開始和洋蔥一起炒香. 切細丁炒香後煮成的醬汁顏色偏淡. 簡單地放入芹菜的方式能保有蕃茄漂亮的顏色. 兩者之間的味道差異不大!

*蘋果泥的酸甜可以綜合蕃茄的酸, 而且多了一個吃不出來的香氣. 我常聽説美國產地的蕃茄沒義大利蕃茄甜. 但我也不想依賴進口昂貴的蕃茄罐頭. 所以蘋果泥, 它可是我的最佳祕密武器喔！

高溫煮沸然後改中小火烹煮, 保持小泡泡約每5-10分鐘攪拌一下, 刮下鍋內邊的醬汁並且接觸至鍋底. 如此一來才能避免醬汁燒焦, 小火燉煮30-45分鐘, 稀釋的蕃茄紅醬濃縮至足以裹附湯匙而不會全然滑落為止. 有點重量的濃度才能裹上其它的食材.

*醬汁需要一定的時間的熬煮, 才能將所有的味道融和為一.

撈出煮爛的巴西利丢棄.

如今你有味道充份平衡的義式媽媽醬, 那麼你就可以做很多美味的義大利料理囉！這樣的醬汁存放在熱水消毒過的冰箱裏可以放一星期以上的! 和雞肉, 豬肉, 海鮮, 蔬菜都很迷人喲！你學會了嗎？