I'd seen it before but being quite a landmark, I thought Will would want to see it for himself and convinced him that it was worth the side trip. We navigated ourselves from our hotel through the cobblestone streets to the hire car office where we were given the keys to a little black Fiat. It was Will's first time driving on the other side of the road.
We made it, relatively unscathed, to the town we were searching for but our final destination eluded us. After turning the wrong way down yet another street Will had just about reached his tether so we parked the car, taking a photo of it and the street name like Hansel and Gretel leaving bread crumbs and set about the rest of our journey on foot with an old school paper tourist map to guide us. We eventually happened upon a news stand and in my very basic Italian I asked the friendly moustached old man for directions. He enthusiastically highlighted our route and we set out again. As the crowds grew thicker we knew we were getting closer to our target.
The Leaning Tower of Pisa, by that time had lost all appeal for poor Will, hungry, worn out and dreading the drive back to Florence but I had something to cheer him up.
The month before we left, Gourmet Traveller had featured a 24-hours-in-Pisa page and had spoken so highly of a little lunch spot that I was convinced we were about to have the best meal of our lives.
Another 20 minute trek later, a now seriously cranky Will in tow, we reached the restaurant only to find a big fat closed sign.
A certain someone was not impressed.
By that stage, I had lost all bargaining power and gave in when Will insisted we eat at the next place we came across which happened to be a not-so-nice looking cafe.
Thinking no one, especially not an Italian, can go wrong with pasta with tomato sauce, we placed our orders and greedily sipped our cokes.
We were wrong. That meal goes down as the worst meal either of us have ever had in our lives.
What arrived was two plates of penne pasta, so dry that when you stabbed one piece with a fork five would come with it.
The 'sauce' was an underripe tomato, sliced up and divided between our plates with a sprinkling of parmesan to top it off.
It was practically inedible and had we not been so very starving by then, we would have simply walked away.
My homemade tomato pasta sauce is practically award winning compared to that. This recipe was inspired by another magazine but this time with a much more positive result.
When I read Donna Hay's story about an Italian family making tomato sauce and saw how easy the recipe seemed I penciled 'tomato sauce making' straight into my diary.
I always assumed that it would be a complicated and messy affair but it was really quite simple and the clean up took about 10 minutes.
The rich flavour and satisfaction of making your own sauce makes it all worthwhile.
The recipe said to cut a cross in the bottom of each tomato and squeeze the seeds and liquid out.
I tried it with the first one and it was too hard for me (read: required too much effort) so I skipped that step and just cut out the cores.
To make homemade tomato pasta sauce you will need a fruit strainer/moulie/food mill that you can buy on its own or Kitchenaid has an attachment for the mixer, called a fruit and vegetable strainer, that is fabulous.
I just shoved the tomato chunks into the top, pushed them down then out one end came the seeds and skin and out the other, the wonderful blood-red tomato juice.
Cleaning it, like all the attachments, was really easy because it comes completely apart.
I just gave it a wash with soapy water and literally took me about two minutes.
I only wish I knew of something to do with all the seeds and skin.
Any ideas for next time?
You can see mine had a little layer of liquid on top which I guess is because I didn't squeeze the tomatoes out first but I assumed that this would simmer off and it would just take a little longer to reduce, which it did.
When I went outside to harvest some oregano, it was looking a little sad so I used a combination of oregano and basil.
Feel free to use whichever you prefer.
I left mine to simmer for about 3 hours and you can see how much it reduced in that time.
At one stage I thought it was never going to thicken but it did eventually.
Once it's bottled up, as long as you used steralised jars and they're well-sealed it will last up to 12 months.
I would so love to have a big tomato sauce making day like the Italians and stock the pantry for the year.
I can only imagine how the flavours must develop over that time into something amazingly rich.
A note on the glass jars.
I keep all my glass jars but always throw out the lids because they can't be sterilised properly for re-use.
I served mine for lunch the other day over zucchini spaghetti with a grating of fresh parmesan.
The flavour packs enough punch to hold its own over plain pasta but would be wonderful spread on top of quick chicken parmigiana or drenching spinach and ricotta cannelloni .
Which ever way you choose to eat it you're going to love it. Enjoy!
How would you serve it?
Thank you to Kitchenaid for loaning me the Fruit and Vegetable Strainer to make my homemade tomato sauce.
Recipe
Ingredients
- 5 kg roma tomatoes
- ¼ cup oregano leaves or basil chopped
- 1 tablespoon sea salt flakes
- cracked black pepper
Instructions
- Wash and dry the tomatoes.
- Cut the core out of the tomatoes and slice them up to fit in the food strainer.
- Pass them all through a food strainer or mouli into a large pot.
- Add the oregano (or basil), salt and pepper and stir them in.
- Bring the pot to a boil over high heat then reduce to medium and leave it to simmer, stirring occasionally for 1.5 to 2.5 hours or until thickened.
- Pour hot sauce into steralised jars.
- Sauce will keep for up to 12 months in a dry, dark place.
Kim says
Thanks for your recipe. I will try to make this sauce, it sounds simple and achievable.
Barrie says
Hello Claire,
Nice site, I found you while looking for reviews of Hosakawa, make sure you try their eggplant.
Wanted to say that you don't need to throw away your jar lids, wash them and before you go to use them for jam, or your sauce, boil them for ten minutes.
Claire says
Hi Barrie. Oh thank you for that that's brilliant! I didn't know you could sterilise them properly. Will make sure I try the eggplant!
Maureen | Orgasmic Chef says
Isn't Kitchenaid great? I've used a Kitchenaid mixer since I was 22 and I can tell you that's a very long time. I've never worn one out but I've given several away just so I could get a new one. Your sauce looks very tomatoey and robust. I want some. :)
Claire says
It's fantastic Maureen! I really don't know what I did before I had one!
Barb Bamber says
Now that was quite the gadget? You say it was loaned? I would want one of those in my kitchen.. how quick was this recipe. The flavors must be fantastic using fresh tomatoes. The zucchini spaghetti has piqued my curiosity as well:) xx
Claire says
It was so good Barb! x
Stephanie@HenryHappened says
This looks and sounds amazing! Thanks for sharing :)
The Café Sucré Farine says
Isn't it funny how seemingly disastrous events become comical as we look back on them and actually bond us together as we recall the events. Your tomato sauce looks wonderful Claire and how fun that you've got a stash for the days ahead!
Claire says
That's true Chris. If it had been a normal day we wouldn't remember it so well!
Jessica says
I was so hopeful that your Pisa story would end with a great meal, but I have to say that I can relate to disappointing meals in Italy. You wouldn't think you could get bad pasta and sauce anywhere there, but I definitely had some unfortunate meals when I was there a few years ago. (There were some great ones too though!) Your sauce is such a vibrant red - looks amazing!
Claire says
I guess it's like saying you wouldn't think you'd get a bad meat pie here in Australia or a bad burger in the States but you do in lots of places sadly. Thanks Jess. It was seriously good and so very easy to make!