Fresh Tomato Sauce

The next recipe I will be sharing with you is for scialatielli. This fresh pasta needs a fresh tomato sauce to make it the perfect meal. However, as this sauce is so versatile I thought I would do a stand alone recipe for those of you who do not want to use it as a pasta sauce.

Scialatielli With Fresh Tomato Sauce
Scialatielli With Fresh Tomato Sauce
Head straight on to the Recipe For ♥ Fresh Tomato Sauce ♥
Let’s talk about tomatoes

One of my favourite quotes is “Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad.”. Tomatoes are another plant introduced to Europe in the great Columbian exchange. It is quite odd to think of Italian cooking not having access to tomatoes. What would a pizza be without the passata base? And any good ragu has tomatoes in it. The tomato is extremely versatile in the vegetable world. One can eat them raw, use them for cooking, or turn them into tomato paste. The berries grow on vines and for consumer purposes, mostly grown in hothouses. I think think this is why our tomatoes lack that proper smell one gets from homegrown tomatoes. To me, its most unique quality is that cooking tomatoes actually increases its health benefits.

Italy and this iconic fruit

On the 31st of October 1548 the Medici family received a gift basket of tomatoes. These were grown on the Grand Duke’s Florentine Estate and used as table decoration. The tomatoes planted in gardens and flower beds mutated over time and new varieties were created. Some of these were toxic and others inedible, meaning many Italians did not bother to cook with any varietal. It was only in the late 1600s that Italians started using tomatoes in cooking, most notably in Naples, the home of the pizza. From then, unique varieties were developed for specific uses, such as sun dried tomatoes, sauce tomatoes, pizza tomatoes, and ones to serve fresh. They were named after the area in which they were grown, and the most well known of these are the San Marzano plum tomato.

Take a look at this inspiring recipe for ♥ Fresh Tomato Sauce ♥ from Lavender and Lime #LavenderAndLime Share on X

Scialatielli With Fresh Tomato Sauce

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Fresh Tomato Sauce

This is the perfect sauce for a chewy pasta
Recipe Category: Sauces
Makes enough for: 2 people
All Rights Reserved: An original recipe from Lavender and Lime

Ingredients

  • 15 mls olive oil
  • 1 shallot, peeled, cut in half and thinly sliced
  • 1 clove garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper to season
  • 2 large tomatoes, cut in half and grated, skins discarded
  • 10 mls tomato paste
  • 5 mls dried mixed Italian herbs
  • 0.625 mls cayenne pepper

Method

  • Place the olive oil into a large frying pan and heat over a medium temperature
  • Add the shallot and sauté until soft
  • Add the garlic, season to taste, and cook until the garlic is fragrant
  • Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, herbs and cayenne
  • Season again and leave to cook on a low temperature until most of the liquid has evaporated
  • The sauce is now ready to use
See the links below for blog posts I published on July 2:

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13 thoughts on “Fresh Tomato Sauce

  1. As you may remember I am not a tomato fan. I did know they were a fruit just like zucchini and pumpkin and cucumbers. So interesting. And so odd to think that the classic italian foods had no tomatoes for centuries!

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