The Sauce Fiend Chronicles: Tomato

Quick and Classic Tomato Sauce

I am a sauce fiend.  Seriously.  The only real reason I miss being a meat eater is because I miss out on the sauciest food of all: chicken wings!  I mean, you get two sauces in one!  Spicy, sticky hot sauce AND cool, creamy blue cheese dressing?!  Come.  On.  I think I need to invest some serious time in making a tolerable veg version of these carnivorous classics.

My love goes deeper than saucy bar food though.  I am that person who always orders extra sauce on their pizza and lathers dainty noodles in arguably too much butter, béchamel, or just classic tomato sauce. 

Here is my recipe for just that: a classic tomato sauce.  Throwing this sauce together is almost as fast as opening a jar from the store.

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Quick and Classic Tomato Sauce

Makes about 1 litre

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 medium yellow onion
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
2 tbsp white wine, optional
1 pint cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 hunk of parmesan rind, optional
1 – 796ml (28oz) can of crushed tomatoes
2 – 4 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
3 tbsp finely chopped parsley
3 tbsp finely chopped basil
salt and pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat and add the onions with a bit of salt and pepper.  Cook, stirring often, for about 6 minutes or until the onions start to soften.  Add the finely minced garlic and cook for an additional 2 minutes or so just to cook off some of that raw garlic hit. 

Add the white wine, if using, and the quartered cherry tomatoes and continue to cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes or until the tomatoes start to break down a bit.  Add the hunk of parmesan rind (if using) as well as the canned tomatoes, sugar (enough to balance the acidity of the tomatoes), and balsamic vinegar and stir to combine.  Cover the pot and lower the heat to allow the sauce to simmer away for anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour, stirring occasionally to prevent burning.  After 10 minutes, the sauce will be flavourful and quite bright tasting.  If you’re looking for a deeper and richer sauce, closer to the hour mark is where you need to go.

Finally, stir in the parsley and basil and season with salt and pepper to taste and enjoy over pasta, on pizza, with roasted eggplant parm, or, if you’re like me, just dip a hunk of cheese into the sauce for a super weird snack.

The tastiest little buns this side of the Mississippi

Easy Homemade Buns

Remember about 13 or 14 years ago when everyone and their dog shunned even the thought of allowing a morsel of bread past their lips?  Well, a bandwagoner I am not so I never really got on board with this whole bread = bad thing.  I mean, come on!  Bread is AMAZING!  Don’t get me wrong, I totally understand that cutting out bread might very well lead to miraculous weight loss for some and there are a whole ton of people out there who literally can’t stomach the stuff due to allergies and sensitivities but, oh man, it is a pretty fantastic thing. 

Making bread yourself does take a little bit of time but it is as easy as anything!  Half of the process feels like you're a kid again playing with modelling clay and the rest is pretty much just waiting.  Even if it was more difficult, it would be totally worth it just to have your house basking in the heavenly smell of fresh bread as it bakes in your oven.

Here is my tried and true recipe for buns.  Feel free to divide the dough into 12 to make perfect burger-sized buns or 24 for the tastiest little dinner rolls you ever did eat!

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Easy Homemade Buns

Makes 12 burger buns or 24 dinner rolls

¾ cup milk
¼ cup unsalted butter
¾ cup cold water
4 cups all-purpose flour, divided, plus some for shaping the buns*
2 ¼ tsp (1 package) quick-rise dry yeast
7 tsp sugar
1 ½ tsp salt
1 egg
egg wash (one egg beaten with 1 tbsp milk or water)
2 tbsp sesame and/or poppy seeds, optional

In a small pot over medium heat, heat the milk and butter until all of the butter is melted and the mixture is quite warm but not yet simmering.

Meanwhile, combine 2 cups of flour with the yeast, sugar, and salt in a large bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer.  Set aside.

Once the milk mixture is hot, remove it from the heat and pour in the cold water to bring the temperature down a bit.  This will help ensure that the yeast is activated without killing it with too much heat.

Pour the liquid into the flour mixture and stir together with a wooden spoon.  Stir in the remaining 2 cups of flour and begin to knead either with your hands or the dough hook attachment for your stand mixer.  The dough should be a bit tacky but if it seems too sticky, add a bit more flour while kneading.  The dough should be smooth and ready after about 6 minutes of kneading in your stand mixer or 8 minutes by hand.

Form the dough into a ball and plop into a lightly oiled bowl.  Cover tightly with plastic wrap and a clean kitchen towel and place in a warm, draft free place for 30 – 45 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.

Punch down the dough and divide into 12 equal pieces for burger buns or 24 for dinner rolls and shape into smooth little buns… it was really difficult not to laugh after typing “smooth little buns”…

Place the buns on a greased cookie sheet leaving a few inches in between each and cover with the clean kitchen towel.  Pop the cookie sheet back into that warm, draft free spot and allow to rise for 25 minutes or so.

Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 400F and prepare your egg wash. 

Once risen, brush each bun with some egg wash and, if you fancy, sprinkle with sesame seeds and/or poppy seeds.  Bake burger sized buns for 13 – 16 minutes and dinner rolls for 10 – 12 minutes or until golden all the way around.

Allow the buns to cool slightly on a wire rack before diving in for the cook’s taste test (aka the saddest looking bun)!

*Feel free to try a mixture of whole wheat and white flours!  I’ve made this recipe with half whole wheat/half white and they turned out great – I would note that if you’re looking for a super tender and light bun, don’t go with 100% whole wheat as it tends to weigh these guys down.