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Cooking
Classic Tomato Sauce - a Beloved Favorite
· 4 servings
Prepare the meat
Pour a little oil into a large pot. I use a big, heavy cast-iron pot. Sear the slices of meat, which you've salted and peppered beforehand, on all sides in the oil, along with two roughly chopped onions.
Add water and spices
Pour in enough water to cover the meat. Add the spices, tied up in a piece of cheesecloth so you don't have to go fishing for them later. Cover with a lid and braise until tender.
Tip:
If you want to save time, feel free to use a pressure cooker instead. The meat will be tender in no time.
Thicken with a roux
Once the meat is tender, remove it from the pot and keep it covered with a plate so it doesn't dry out. Let the liquid in the pot keep simmering - you should end up with about half a litre. Remove the spice bag just before thickening the sauce with the roux. Melt about four tablespoons of butter.
Sauté the onion and add sugar
In the butter, sauté the remaining two roughly chopped onions until nicely golden. Just before they're done, sprinkle in two to three tablespoons of cane sugar and let it dissolve.
Stir in the flour
Finally, stir in plain flour - enough to form a thicker paste, the roux. Whisk vigorously for a moment, then gradually stir it into the bubbling liquid in the pot where the meat was braised.
Add the tomatoes
Mix thoroughly - you can even whisk it well. Add tomato purée or canned tomatoes. Stir again and simmer gently for about 20 minutes.
Blend until smooth
Blend the simmered sauce with a hand blender until completely smooth. Then strain and push it through a fine sieve. Give it one last taste and adjust the seasoning with a pinch of salt, sugar, pepper... whatever it needs.
Whisk in the butter
There's one more trick to turn this smooth sauce into a truly velvety one. Simply whisk a piece of chilled butter into the finished sauce once it's off the heat.
Serving
Return the meat to the sauce, warm it through, and serve.
Tips:
Try adding a couple of cloves for extra flavour. The sauce will taste a touch sweeter, but delicious! If you're making the sauce for meatballs, add in the drippings from frying or baking the meatballs too. Even the browned bits of the meat mixture will add extra flavour to the sauce.