Fresh homemade tomato sauce: it's worth doing it!

Do you know how to make a fresh delicious homemade tomato sauce? Have you ever tried?

The making of tomato sauce (in Italian salsa di pomodoro) definetely reminds me of my childhood summers spent in our country-house along with my family and my maternal grandparents.

My mum and my grandma sometimes were doing the "salsa" (literally means sauce and when we say the word alone it only means tomato sauce). I used to watch the process, not the entire one though, as it was very long and after a while I inevitably got bored; so I was coming and going from the kitchen from time to time.

Last week after so many years I decided to prepare once again some fresh tomato sauce. Contrary to what I used to think when I was 10, it didn't seem to me neither long nor boring. That's good! 

It took me just an afternoon (cooking time included) and the result was great! I was so proud :-)

Ingredients:
1 kg ripen tomatoes
1 onion
1 full teaspoon of salt
1/2 spoon of caster sugar
black pepper
olive oil
fresh basil
cinnamon in powder
nutmeg
1. Wash the tomatoes under running water, then roughly cut them and put them in a sauce pan together with the sliced onion. Let cook the two together for about 30 minutes on a very low heat with a lit.
2. After that it's time to mash them up. To help you speed up the process you can first blend the mix; this will facilitate the squeezeing phase. 
3. To squeeze them put them in a strainer. I have an electric tomato strainer (or squeezer... I am not sure how you exactly call it) so it's very easy (See the pic here on the left). When you have finished the squeezing phase, the liquid that you have gathered in the sauce pan is very watery and needs to be reduced to the proper thickness of the tomato sauce, so it has to cook again on a very low heat for at least two hours and half or until it is not watery anymore.

4. As soon as the liquid is becoming more and more "sauce" than water add all the ingredients to make it tasty: salt, sugar, a pinch of black pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon and some fresh leaves of basil. Taste it and adjust with salt and sugar if needed.

In the end add also a drizzle of extravergin olive oil... and that's pretty much it, your fresh homemade tomato sauce is ready!!!
You can use it on your pasta, bruschettas, pizza or wherever you like. You will be proud too! ;-)


Enjoy!

White and red bruschettas, the typical Sicilian starter

Do you know how to prepare some traditional starter called bruschetta? It's very easy, but to make a perfect bruschetta you must have the perfect bread, the one we call rustic and has to be cut in slices and toasted until it gets a bit crispy.

There are three ways of preparing this mouthwatering starter: the most  traditional version is the red one, which means with fresh tomatoes cut in cubes and seasoned with olive oil, garlic, oregano and salt put on slices of bread.

We also do it in the simplest way which I personally love, that we call the white version or the plain one. You have to toast the bread, spread some garlic on the bread, then add some olive oil, salt and oregano and here it is... I would actually call it the Mediterranean way to do the famous garlic bread.

Other than that if we have more time and desire to prepare a full plate of different bruschettas we can satisfy our whims by preparing a third type: anchovies, local cheese (normally primo sale or provola) and a spoon of tomato sauce.

Just cut the cheese in thin slices and place them on top of the bread, then add a spoon of tomato sauce and an anchovy. Place them in the oven until cheese is melted and bread has become quite crispy. If you prepare this mix of bruschettas for your guests I am sure they will go crazy and lick their fingers. Enjoy!

Mamma Carmela's special Sicilian pesto sauce - The video

This recipe is really unique. It is called Sicilian pesto sauce but it's not the famous pesto trapanese (even if ingredients are very similar) and it is obviously not the renowned pesto genovese with basil. It is a pesto sauce created by Mamma Carmela, a lady who used to have a lovely little Trattoria in Palermo. Her husband and her run that place for more than 40 years. There they met actors, singers and thousands of tourists who went to taste her typical dishes.

Her Trattoria was renowned for the Sicilian dishes and the familiar way of cooking them, infact going there was like having lunch at home. Last year unfortunately after a gas explosion this restaurant was destroyed and Mamma Carmela with her family decided not to continue the activity with a new one, being already in advanced age.

Exclusively for the Sicilian Cuisine Blog her daughter Patrizia gave me the recipe of her famous special pesto and we also did a short video. This is the way I want to remember the lovely evenings spent at their trattoria. Thank you so much!

Ingredients & preparation for 4-6 people: 

6-7 big tomatoes - 2 cloves of garlic - fresh mint - fresh basil - 50 gr almonds - half of a dried red pepper - salt - sunflower oil or olive oil (about a glass). She used to put sunflower oil because "it was a bit lighter" - she said.

1. Wash the tomatoes, the basil and the mint.
2. Put all the ingredients together in the blender, just like shown in the video here on the right.

 
Now: if you want to eat it with pasta, just prepare it as usual, drain it and place it in a bowl, mixing the pesto with the pasta well, and serving straight away. 

If you want to use it for bruschettas, toast your sliced bread (better if the rustic type) and put the pesto on top of the toasted slices. 

It will be a scrumptious starter for your guests with such a strong character!

*Warning: This pesto is really strong, so careful because it is going to be hot and tasty! Just try and see for yourselves!

Thanks to Patrizia Laria for the video editing.