Simple Tomato Sauce

Jarred tomato sauce is a lot like Bisquick or microwave popcorn: it's something extremely simple to make but until recently (2007), the food industry had me convinced that I couldn't have pasta or pancakes or popcorn without them. Something as simple as olive oil and tomatoes is a huge consumer product. These jars can cost $5.

Now instead of buying a jar of sauce, I buy a box of chopped or pureed tomatoes. I don't like to buy boxes but it is nice to have tomatoes on hand for a quick red sauce when I need one. It isn't that much harder to chop my own tomatoes. My dad makes a fabulous tomato sauce when he finds gorgeous tomatoes at the farmer's market. Or even better, grow your own tomatoes. The 3rd Annual Tomato Market is happening this weekend in Marin click here for more details.

1/4 cup olive oil
5 garlic cloves
1/2 small onion
26 oz. chopped or pureed tomatoes
1/2 tablespoon honey
salt to taste

Heat the olive oil and garlic together for five minutes. The idea is to scent the olive oil. Pull the garlic out after the five minutes. Add the onion to the olive oil. Cook for five minutes or until soft. Add all the tomatoes. Season with salt and honey.

While living in France many, many years ago, I learned that sugar helps cut the acidity of the tomatoes. Then while on vacation in Mexico, I used honey instead of refined white sugar and my red sauce tasted even better!

Simmer until all the flavors blend together, another ten minutes, or until the pasta is ready. Either eat the sauce chunky or puree in a blender.

Basil is in Season - March

This week, I bought my first bundle of locally grown basil of the year. It's in season in California! I am so excited because I love to make pesto and there is nothing better than sweet, in-season basil. Rainbow Grocery in San Francisco has basil from Hollister, CA.

Puréed Cauliflower and Béchamel sauce

Yes, I Tivo Oprah! I don't always watch it because I often cry at least once during the show. However, I couldn't resist watching Jessica Seinfeld promote her book Deceptively Delicious:Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food. And no, I didn't cry, but I did get inspired to write about this puréed food in Mikey's diet.

I made a lot of puréed foods when Mikey was under 12 months, but I don't do much of that kind of cooking now because he is bigger. However, I still use one puréed food: cauliflower. When I have fifteen minutes to make dinner, I whip up a simple white sauce (a.k.a Béchamel sauce) and throw it over rice pasta. For a twist, I add in puréed cauliflower.

Here's how I do it:

1. Boil water and cut the cauliflower cloves off at the stem.
2. Put the cauliflower into the boiling water and cook for five minutes.
3. Leave some cloves aside for snacking before dinner, purée the rest.
4. Mix the purée right into the the white sauce and pour over the pasta.

Yeah! One more dish with a vegetable in it.

Homemade Béchamel Sauce: always a lifesaver

Béchamel Sauce has a fancy French name but it’s actually a simple “white sauce” made with butter and milk. When Mikey is clamoring for food, the pesto (see pesto post here) is all gone, and I’m zapped of all my energy, I can quickly whip up this recipe and pour it over pasta. To me, the satiny cream is the ultimate comfort food. And even Zack—who doesn’t like white creamy things—savors every bite.

This recipe serves 3 to 4 people:

2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon unbleached white flour
1 cup milk
Salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in saucepan. Add the flour whisk together. The flour and butter come together but separate in the milk. Pour in the milk. Whisk, whisk, and whisk until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.

To avoid a clumpy consistency, I simmer and whisk the sauce on low, low or turn off and on the burner until the pasta is ready. I don't want the sauce to over cook or get cold and clumpy. Drain the pasta and dump the white sauce over the top. Mix together and serve. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top if you have it, but the sauce is deliciously rich without it.

I have used arrowroot, cornstarch, and wheat flour for this recipe but think that unbleached white flour produces the most consistent results.

Bon appétit!

Homemade Pesto: always on the menu

Eggs and pesto—when I'm out of these things, it's time to go to the store. Basil is the source to a week long supply of homemade pesto.

The richly flavored paste is filling and refreshing—plus basil is a mild sedative and digestive aid, and it treats headaches. A sedative is definitely what I need around 6 p.m. when I’m watching Mikey toss his dinner plate on to the ground. The herb is still used in China to treat spasms of the intestinal tract, kidney ailments, and poor circulation (Murray).

When I don’t know what to make for dinner, I whip up some pesto and dump it on pasta. Ideally, I have already made the pesto and all I have to do is boil water for the pasta. Pesto can last anywhere from one to three weeks but I found that after a week the top goes brown and I have to scrape it off. So, I’d say freeze your pesto if you haven’t used it in a week. Use Ruth Yaron’s ice cube method and just pop a couple cubes out when you want to make some pesto pasta!

If I don’t have any basil, I have a problem—I loathe last-minute trips to the store. I use bulk whole wheat, rice, or spinach pasta. Spinach pasta is made with semolina flour which is white flour. Not the best food choice but Mikey loves his green pasta. The picture shows rice pasta. Rice pasta is gluten free and a much needed rest from all that wheat that we eat. In fact, this meal is completely packaging-free. I also make pizza about twice a week and we all prefer to smear pesto sauce across our pies rather than the traditional tomato.

I eased into making pesto from scratch. First, I topped pasta with jarred pesto from Trader Joe’s (Pesto alla Genovese). I always added extra olive oil to the thick sauce to make it last longer and easier to work with. Then, I tried the premade bulk pesto at Rainbow—which is quite yummy but expensive. But now I make my own. Homemade pesto is tastier than the jarred Pesto alla Genovese and cheaper than the premade kind. Even with the temptation of the emergency jar in the pantry, I make my own fresh batch weekly.

I started with this recipe from Joy of Cooking. I often skip the garlic or pine nuts and it still turns out fine:

2 cups loosely packed fresh basil leaves
1/3 cup pine nuts
2 medium cloves of garlic, peeled
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and ground pepper to taste

I never thought that I’d be the type of person who makes something without a cookbook—even a simple recipe like this one. But now I am that sort of person and here’s how I knock off pesto:

Tear off all the basil leaves from stems of 2 bundles of basil and put into the food processor.
Add one to two cloves of garlic.
Sprinkle in some pine nuts.
Dump some grated Parmesan into the food processor. (If I don’t have grated cheese, I grate it in the food processor before I start making the pesto.)
Pour in olive oil while the food processor is running until a liquid consistency is observed (about 1/2 bottle of olive oil).
Add salt and pepper to taste.

Thankfully, pesto is very forgiving!

Rombauer, Irma. Joy of Cooking. New York, NY: Simone & Schuster Inc., 1997.
Murray, Michael. The Encyclopedia of Healing Foods. New York: Atria Books, 2005.