Red Wine Pasta Sauce Simmered Until Spoonable

Red Wine Pasta Sauce Simmered Until Spoonable is filed under Sauces and built around onion finely diced, garlic minced, and olive oil. Plan on 8 people.

Count on 10 minutes of prep, 8 hours of cooking, about 8 hours from the first measurement to the plate.

Ingredients Method

What goes in the bowl

• 3 cups onion finely diced
• 4 tablespoons garlic minced
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• ½ cup dry red wine I used a reasonably priced Cabernet Sauvignon
• 2 28-oz cans San Marzano tomatoes
• 2 6-oz cans tomato paste
• 2 cups chicken stock
• ⅓ cup fresh basil minced
• 3 teaspoons fresh thyme
• 3 large pinches Kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried sage

How the cooking goes

1. Warm a 5 ½- to 7-quart Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed stock pot over a moderate flame until hot. Add olive oil, swirling to coat. Add the garlic and onions and sauté until the onions are translucent. Keep the heat on medium and adjust as you cook because you don't want to brown them.
2. Put the red wine and cook for about 2 minutes, stirring with a flat wooden spatula until the wine has reduced slightly.
3. In a separate bowl, squeeze the whole tomatoes to break them up. You do this in the sauce pot to save cleaning a bowl. If you choose to do the same, do it before adding the chicken stock so you don’t have to worry about splashing! Add all of your remaining ingredients, bring to a slow boil then lower the heat to low and simmer sauce, covered, for 4 to 8 hours; stirring now and then.
4. You can add more chicken stock if the sauce gets too thick. You like a thicker sauce, so you allow mine to reduce for the last half hour with the top off.
5. After about 2 hours, you like until the seasoning suits the pot the sauce to make sure it doesn’t need any additional seasoning. Add kosher salt until the seasoning suits the pot.
6. Towards the end of your cook time, taste the sauce again to see if it is too acidic. If it is and that isn’t your thing, you can add 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar to counterbalance that acid. You find it really varies by batch and the quality of the tomatoes.
7. Serve over your favorite pasta, or cool and store it for later use.

After it comes off the heat

Cool the pot before it goes into the refrigerator. It reheats gently on the stove the next day.

If you want another plate from Sauces, open Maple Butter with a Clear Method and Bread Crumbs with a Steady Rise.