Another Mother Sauce – Harvest Tomato Sauce

It’s November, just a week away from Thanksgiving. The hoop houses in Hot Sulphur Springs, Colorado, elevation 7,680 feet, are still producing beautiful, ripe tomatoes, and our friend, James Johnson, just shared with us a pound of his homegrown beauties. They were at their peak and would not last another day, so I decided to preserve their flavor and freshness in a tomato sauce, one of the five mother sauces as set forth by Auguste Escoffier in 1903 in his cooking bible, Le Guide Culinarire. Alors! Though most of my FFA followers are not French, we foodies from any country acknowledge that the French have taught the rest of the world how to make sauces go from boring to the bomb!

Technically, in French cuisine there are five mother sauces, but there are really only three that matter to FFA and most modern-day cooks: brown (espagnole), white (béchamel) and tomato. These mother sauces form the foundation from which delicious soups, sauces and dishes spring. They add that and-then-some to whatever you’re cooking to deepen the flavors, making them memorable.

Today we’ll be making a nuanced tomato sauce that can be used in almost any way — except for in Italian dishes. I recommend my southern Italian marinara sauce for Italian dishes.

Do You Know Your French Mother Sauces?

Harvest Tomato Sauce

Makes about two cups of finished sauce

• 1 lb ripe tomatoes, peeled and roughly chopped or 1 lb canned Roma tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 small clove of garlic, chopped
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme
• A pinch of cloves
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions for Using Fresh Tomatoes

1. Place a medium-sized saucepan on the stove with enough water to cover the tomatoes and bring to a boil.
2. In another medium-sized bowl add 4 cups of ice and pour over 2 cups of water.
3. Score top and bottom of each tomato, removing its end. Drop tomatoes carefully into the boiling water and let parboil for 2 minutes, removing them to the ice bath with a slotted spoon. Peel the tomatoes and chop roughly.
4. Then continue with directions and go to Number 2 below.

Directions for Using Canned Tomatoes

1. Drain liquid from canned tomatoes and roughly chop them.
2. Place olive oil and butter in pan over medium-love heat and add the chopped tomatoes, garlic, sugar, spices and salt and pepper to taste.
3. Cover the pan and cook for 10 to 15 minutes.
4. Run through a sieve to remove tomato seeds and garlic.
5. Return to pan, correct seasonings and either store or use your tomato sauce!

Tip: For a delicious sauce for a steak or other beef, add some brown sauce to the tomato sauce.