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Home » Sauce and Dressings » Nonna-Approved Tomato Sauce (pasta, pizza, etc)

Nonna-Approved Tomato Sauce (pasta, pizza, etc)

March 29, 2015 by Nelson Cardoso 15 Comments

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Nonna approved tomato sauce or sugo

Nonna-approved tomato sauce or sugo

As the foundation of so many Italian recipes, tomato sauce (or sugo as our Italian friends say), is a vital ingredient in our house.

We use this in pasta, on pizza, and over veal and chicken, but this versatile sauce can be used with so much more.

Although this sauce gets eaten quickly in our home, you can keep it fresh in the fridge for three or four days. Fill a mason jar and this makes a great gift too.

In case you’re wondering, the picture we took shows vine-ripened tomatoes, but these are not the tomatoes we used for the sauce–the stems and vine just looked prettier in the shot.

 

All the ingredients

All the ingredients

 

Getting the cut-ups ready

Getting the cut-ups ready

 

Everything's in the pot

Everything’s in the pot

5.0 from 1 reviews
Nonna-Approved Tomato Sauce (for pasta, pizza and more)
 
Print
Prep time
15 mins
Cook time
2 hours 10 mins
Total time
2 hours 25 mins
 
Delicious tomato sauce that can be used on fresh pasta, pizza, meatballs, veal, etc. A versatile sauce that works as a base for so many meals.
Author: Nelson Cardoso
Recipe type: Sauce
Cuisine: Italian
Serves: 2.5 litres
Ingredients
  • 3 cans (28 fluid ounces each can) whole peeled tomatoes (my personal favourite is La San Marzano which I usually find at Costco)
  • 4 tbs extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 medium cooking onion thinly sliced
  • 3 cloves of garlic minced
  • ¼ cup good red wine (plus an extra glass to drink while cooking)
  • ½ tsp sugar
  • 10 to 15 fresh basil leaves rolled and diced
  • 1 whole medium peeled carrot
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 1 tsp salt
  • ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
  1. Heat up olive oil in a large saucepan on medium heat.
  2. Once the oil is hot, add onions and sauté until they start to look translucent. Add the chopped garlic and continue sautéing for another 3 minutes but don't let the garlic burn.
  3. Add the tomatoes (with liquid), wine, sugar, basil, carrot, oregano, salt and pepper. Break up the tomatoes inside the pot with a wooden spoon and stir well.
  4. Bring the mixture up to a slow boil and lower to simmer covered for 2 hours. Mix occasionally but be careful with splatters from the hot tomato mixture while stirring.
  5. Sample and adjust salt and ground pepper to taste.
  6. Remove the whole carrot
  7. Your sauce is now ready for your pasta or other favorite dish.
  8. Notes: If your family doesn't like the sauce as chunky, feel free to purée the mixture after removing the carrot.
3.5.3226

Filed Under: Sauce and Dressings Tagged With: sauces, vegetarian

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Comments

  1. AvatarSteven says

    May 10, 2015 at 8:28 am

    My Greek wife says that if you use extra-virgin olive oil to cook with you spoil it. There are processed olive oils that are lighter and can be used for cooking. Bread is to be dipped in cold pressed extra-virgin and it can be poured over Greek salad. It should be treated almost as if it was a medicine.

    Reply
    • Nelson Cardoso Nelson Cardoso says

      May 10, 2015 at 9:17 am

      Hi Steven, thanks for the feedback. I really do appreciate different points of view on these recipes. I did experiment with different oils over time and the olive oil gave us our favourite result. But having said that, you may enjoy a different oil or ratio of spices even more. Thank you so much for taking the time to comment. If you end up trying it with another type of oil, please let us know how it goes. It’s always nice to have different options for our readers. Take care and happy cooking.

      Reply
  2. AvatarDaniel O'Callaghan says

    April 4, 2017 at 12:15 pm

    I love the sounds of this recipe and will give it a try this Sunday. My question is how long will this sauce keep in a jar? I assume you can refrigerate in a mason jar or something for future use?

    Reply
    • Nelson Cardoso Nelson Cardoso says

      April 10, 2017 at 1:05 pm

      Hi Daniel, I’m so sorry, I completely missed this message and I’m guessing it’s a bit too late now. In any case, I typically make the sauce and then put the leftovers in a tight container in the fridge for up to a week. Once again, apologies for the late response.

      Reply
      • AvatarCharlie says

        September 8, 2018 at 7:03 am

        Thanks a lot of sauce for one can. I guess you can add some lemon juice to the bottom of the jars and can them to last longer?

        Reply
        • Nelson Cardoso Nelson Cardoso says

          September 29, 2018 at 10:40 am

          Hi Charlie, I’m not sure about the lemon juice, I’ve never done that, but I will investigate this. Take care.

          Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Fresh Cod Baked in Tomato Sauce | Photos & Food says:
    October 23, 2015 at 6:01 pm

    […] First of all, Nelson had some tomato sauce in the fridge–he’d made a big batch of his Nonna-approved tomato sauce (but feel free to use your own favourite tomato sauce/recipe) on the weekend when he had some more […]

    Reply
  2. Stone Baked Margherita Pizza on the BBQ | Photos & Food says:
    November 29, 2015 at 12:17 pm

    […] makes it great is fresh ingredients. Nelson used fresh Buffalo mozzarella, his home-made dough, nonna-approved tomato sauce, and basil from our herb garden. Now that’s fresh and delicious. Give it a try. Make it your […]

    Reply
  3. Italian Style Breaded Veal Cutlets (Fettini) | Photos & Food says:
    November 29, 2015 at 12:31 pm

    […] made these delicious breaded veal cutlets with his nonna-approved tomato sauce, roasted potatoes and a spring-mix salad. OMG can you say “seconds please”! Man, […]

    Reply
  4. Easy Pasta and Italian Sausage Weeknight Dinner | Photos & Food says:
    January 5, 2016 at 10:28 pm

    […] healthy… and oh yeah, that taste good too! This week I happened to have some leftover Nonna-approved tomato sauce and sweet Italian sausage in the fridge with no designated purpose. I’m not sure if […]

    Reply
  5. Amazing Meat Lasagna... Without Visiting Italy! | Photos & Food says:
    March 6, 2016 at 11:28 am

    […] touch from our friends. The sugo (tomato sauce), was made earlier in the day. You can use our Nonna-Approved Tomato Sauce, another favourite recipe, or if you don’t want to make your own sauce, you can even use a […]

    Reply
  6. Veal Braciole Slow Cooked in Tomato Sauce | Photos & Food says:
    April 17, 2016 at 10:05 am

    […] this Italian-inspired Braciole di Vitello (thinly sliced veal, fried and then slow cooked in our Nonna-Approved tomato sauce)… because, why not…we like to mix things up a bit […]

    Reply
  7. Good Old-fashioned Meatloaf | Photos & Food says:
    October 29, 2016 at 3:24 pm

    […] ½ cup tomato sauce […]

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  8. Restaurant Style Italian Veal Sandwiches | Photos & Food says:
    January 8, 2017 at 6:10 pm

    […] used our own Nonna approved tomato sauce, but feel free to use your own recipe or quality purchased tomato […]

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  9. Arugula, Roasted Red Pepper and Buffalo Mozzarella Flatbread (Pizza) | Photos & Food says:
    March 5, 2017 at 10:23 pm

    […] Want a delicious tomato sauce recipe? Try our Nonna-approved tomato sauce. […]

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Nelson and Liz Cardoso

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