Tomato Sauce for Pasta

This sauce is the argument sauce, everyone has there own version and everyone’s version is right. I had a friend squeeze ketchup into a tomato sauce I had on the stove once because she reckoned my sauce was not sweet enough. Needless to say she was sacked as my girlfriend and she left the house wearing the sauce. Just joking, come on. Any way the tomato sauce for pasta is really simple and so it should be. This is a good basic recipe and you can add a variety of items. The key when starting from scratch is to reduce your tomatoes to a paste before starting your sauce. There are many forms of tomato paste and fresh paste is no where near the refined level that one expects when using manufactured paste. Most of which is very good quality. First we will discuss the sauce then I will discuss making tomato paste.

2 large onions

6 gloves of garlic

3 bay leaves

500 ml of tomato paste

500 ml chicken stock

1 litre water

Slice the onions and garlic thin, thin, thin, did I say thin. Sauté the onions and garlic but don’t burn them add the paste 100 ml at a time stirring through the onions, increase the heat and fry the paste and veggies until they start to become darker, then add the stock and water. Add bay leaves and simmer for 2 hours. Reduce to desired thickness. That’s it simple. This is a versatile sauce that can be used in a variety of recipes and can be a great base for hot sauce’s. Pumpkin can also be used as a reduction base for hot sauces and is a pleasant change.

Making  Tomato Paste

Get a heap of tomatoes and a really big pot. Poach the tomatoes quickly until the skin starts to lift. Remove tomatoes to a large bowl and let cool. Now peel off all the skin and remove the seeds, then return to the pot with the liquid from the tomatoes after being drained and begin simmering.

Simmer, stir, simmer, stir, simmer, stir, simmer, stir. This is a reduction base. IF the consistency is not right add water and repeat the process. Simmer, stir, simmer, stir, simmer, stir. This paste can now return to the refrigerator to be used when you need it. In a jar covered with olive oil it will easily keep a couple of weeks. Probably longer.  

Mornay for Scallops and Oysters

With the scallops and oysters the flavours are so strong that the cream acts to nullify there poignancy, therefore I always exclude the cream from the Mornay when serving Scallops and oysters.

2 dozen scallops

750 Béchamel sauce

100ml fish stock

50 grams parmesan

50 Grams butter

A dash of salt and white pepper

Combine the Béchamel sauce and the fish stock in the double boiler stirring constantly. Let simmer for 5 minutes before adding the cheese and butter slowly. Remove the shellfish from its shell and throw into a hot dry pan to extract excess moisture. Put fish into a grilling pan, pour sauce over fish evenly and put under the griller flame for a short time, until the surface becomes crisp and starts to bubble. You can serve them on the shell or off, my preference is off. I say forget about the shells, a very thin layer of pilaf on a lettuce bed is preferable and tasty. A bitter lettuce like radicchio is better suited than a sweet lettuce like iceberg.

Cheese, Wine and Sauce

Choosing the right cheese or wine for a recipe or a sauce can be difficult. There are a number of traditions when it comes to choosing the right cheese or wine. They are all valid and by there very nature define the many of the sauces they are used in. Both should be used sparingly in the sauce but grandly in the cup or on the plate.

As a chef it is up to you to buy and try different cheeses and wines, educating your palette, conjuring ideas of how and when it is best to use a particular cheese or wine.

Mirepoix

The Mirepoix is a great base, often used with sauces for shellfish. It is a combination of aromatics simmered gently in butter and sherry ( Madeira can be substituted ) until it starts to break down. A kind of soup base for sauces, great when used as a basting liquid for the lamb roast.

1 carrot

1 onion

1 stick of celery

1 tablespoons of chopped leg ham

50 grams of butter

1 Bay leaf

1 sprig of thyme

2 table spoons of sherry

Mince all ingredients and cook slowly in butter, for about 5 minutes, then add the sherry and simmer.

Crayfish in Brandy and White Wine Sauce

This is an easy dish and Yabbies or Morton Bay Bugs can be substituted for Lobster. Clean and poach the fish in a Court Bouillon first and let stand.

50 grams of butter

1 standard quantity of Mirepoix (See Mirepoix)

Pinch of salt & black pepper

75 ml Brandy

200 ml White Sauvignon

75 ml fish or chicken stock

75 ml poached, skinned and seeded tomatoes

2 egg yolks

25 grams of butter

1 teaspoon of dried ground tarragon

1 teaspoon chopped Italian parsley

Take out your deep sided frying pan and add the Mirepoix and Cray fish, toss over a medium heat for a few minutes. Flame with the brandy to seal and add the white wine, stock and tomato. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the fish to a warm serving dish and cover. Reduce the remaining liquid or the Court Bouillon over a high flame for a few minutes. Put the mixture into a simmering double boiler and carefully thicken the sauce with the egg yolks. Now add the butter, tarragon and parsley and stir until consistent. Pour over the fish and serve. 


You can simply reduce, if you do not wish to add the egg yolks but once the fish has been poached waiting may be counter productive to your recipe. Even so, add the butter and herbs just before serving.

Wine and Alcohol in Sauces

Alcohol in my opinion makes for the finest of the aromatic sauces. Reduced rapidly or slowly as with casseroles the pan juices respond chemically with the wine creating new dimensions to flavour. Careful of using too much.

My advise is to always have a glass close by for excess and taste the alcohol regularly whilst cooking to insure that you have made the right choice.

Used subtly and combined with herbs the sauce chef can create some very satisfying flavours. For example, some Pernod or Ouzo  added to a sauce using fennel is a superb combination for meat dishes, especially the braised pork chop.

Of course there is the Flambé, warm liqueur ignited and poured over the meal before serving. Alcohol should not be ignited until the pan juices are hot this will allow a good mix with out stirring. Shake the pan and spread the flame. This will burn off any excess butter or oil and will allow the flavour of the alcohol to penetrate. Again quantities are always a problem with the beginner so have that glass handy. Try to stick to recipes with measured amounts of alcohol before trying to go free hand.

Don’t buy cheap grog ever. Cheap alcohol is bad for the liver and gives you a headache. Buy good quality, always.

Alcohol in desserts, this is open to criticism on many levels. Many chefs believe alcohol to be un necessary in desserts. I disagree, what of the Tiramesù with no alcohol, or the Christmas cake with no rum. Galliano over Vanilla ice-cream with a shot of espresso. Any you get the message………..find reasons to use alcohol in desserts, everyone will be happier and healthier.  

Spices in Sauces

There are no hard and fast rules with spices. Some like it hot, some not. Certain recipes lend themselves to hot and spicy and others are spiced in a more subtle way. Everyone can appreciate the use of spice in a sauce when used in an appropriate manner.

The soft rules of spice 


First,  buy good spices, quality is essential.

Second, When entertaining guests using to little spice is forgivable, using to much is not. You can always add a little more and simmer for a few more minutes, a much better proposition.

Third, this one should probably be first. DON’T BURN THE ONIONS! Slightly brown only with onions and garlic when pan frying.

Finally, soft whole green pepper corns only in the pepper sauce. Any other use of pepper should always be ground at the time never pre ground. Black ads a pungency to the recipe where the white is just hot. Ear ringing hot in the right quantities. We will discuss Chilli in a later blog.