Yesterday morning I hit the jackpot at the produce store: 6 lbs of tomatoes for $2. Granted, they were a little mooshy - perfect for a tomato sauce.
I stopped by the fresh pasta shop on Commercial drive to pick up some ravioli and to see if I could get some pointers on making my sauce. I was lucky to get some excellent pointers from another customer. First off, she recommended blanching the tomatoes so that it would be easy to remove the skins (because they can be bitter). Second, she suggested using a bit of red wine. Third, she recommended using lots of garlic.
So I blanched the tomatoes. Amazing... they practically skin themselves. I sauteed some onions in my pot, then added minced garlic, then the tomatoes. This time I cranked the heat and kept it at a heavy simmer for about 1 hour until reduced to less than 1/2 of the original volume. About 2 Tbsp of tomato paste was added for colour and thickness.
Then the party got started. I added about 1/2 a cup of red wine, and improvised from there. I decided to add a few pinches of cayenne pepper - NOT enough to add spice, but as a flavor enhancer (this is a new trick I've learned). I started adding some cream to balance out the wine's acidity. Before I knew it, I had added an entire cup of cream... it became a rosee! A few pinches of thyme, a pinch of dried basil, and 3 or 4 pinches of sugar (for complete balance). Finally, salt was slowly added until it enhanced the other flavors sufficiently.
By the time the tasting/ adjusting cycle was done, I wasn't quite sure whether it was good or not. But this morning, with a fresh palette, it tasted great. Next time I just have to be more conservative with the thyme - that stuff's powerful!