You will not certainly do it, but if you surf in an Internet forum about foods that are frequently missed by Spanish people living in foreign countries, you may be surprised to discover that besides the “jamón”, they miss a lot the bottles or bricks of tomato sauce in the supermarket. Quite true.
How to make tomato frito ?
In many countries, the “tomato frito “, as called in Spain, does not exist. However, this tasty sauce is extremely easy to prepare at home by those who stay in Spain and those who by choice or need left their country.
Spanish Tomato Sauce Recipe (Tomato Frito)
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Serves: 4 Time: 1 h Difficulty: Easy
Ingredients
1 kg of ripe tomatoes
4 tablespoons of olive oil
1 large bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon of sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Wash the tomatoes throughly, remove the stalk and dice them.
Heat a pan with the 4 tablespoons of olive oil. Once the oil is hot, add the tomatoes, the bay leaf and sprinkle with the sugar.
Let it reduce to a simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Remove the bay leaf and sieve the sauce with a food mill to remove skin and seeds (a Chinese colande might also do it).
Heat again the tomato sauce once sieved, until the sauce thickens.
Finally, season with salt and pepper to taste. Mix well and test each correction.
It is done. Enjoy!
Hints, Tips, and Tricks
This “tomato frito” sauce can be used to accompany french fries , fried eggs, cuban rice , a hamburger , meatballs , tuna , sautéed pork or pasta .
The sugar reduces the acidity of the tomato.
You can use canned tomatoes, tomato coulis, or even the Italian pulp (passata), which is already crushed, seedless and skinless.
You can flavor the tomato sauce with your choice of herbs such as thyme, basil or rosemary.
You can keep it a few days in the refrigerator.
If you cook a lot, you can make preserves like jams:
Boil the jars for about 20 minutes to sterilize. Let them drain.
Completely fill them with the tomato sauce still hot to the brim. Close them hot.
Return to verify that the vacuum was well done and that they are hermetically sealed.
One of the most common variations of this sauce is to brown in a little olive oil 1 small onion, peeled, washed and finely chopped until translucent and possibly with 1 garlic clove minced before adding the tomatoes. In this case, it is not necessary to add sugar as onion also reduces the acidity of the tomato.
Another variation: You can also add with the onion half of a green pepper, cut into small pieces. In this case, I like to use green peppers ox horn.
To prevent the “tomato frito” sauce from losing its red color is absolutely necessary to use a food mill or a Chinese colander. Never use the blender nor the food processor.
Now you know how to make tomato frito sauce
Hope you liked it. Do not hesitate to leave me a comment down below.
See you soon!
