Creamy Tomato Sauce

I’ve previously posted a picture of this sauce at this post when I was attempting to do one of those Instagram photo-a-day things, just to get more regular about posting on my blog. Well, that’s not going to work for me. I’m too irregular. Maybe someday I won’t be.

But I’m reposting with recipe today. Why? Well, contest entry of course. Duh. Clean Eating Magazine was asking for some awesome tomato recipes for a contest featuring the tomatoes I already use. If you’re interested, it’s available at this link! You must enter by August 14th.

Hear about my entry after the jump!

So one day I wondered if I could get my kids more excited about eating tomato sauce if it was creamier, like the way they’ll eat alfredo sauce. It totally worked. Husband liked it too! And they’ve kept asking for it over and over again. Here are my inspiration recipes, which are technically actually the same one posted at different places.

Fettuccine with Creamy Tomato and Sausage Sauce at Epicurious

Fettuccine with Creamy Tomato Italian Sausage Sauce Recipe at Simply Recipes

Pretty similar, huh? They were both from a recipe originally published in Bon Appétit December 2000. Here’s what I do.

I buy about a pound of bulk ground pork. (I was using my grocery store’s Italian Sausage, but they add canola which can have corn allergens.) I put it in a big pan and dump some Italian spices in- oregano, sage, fennel, basil, salt, red pepper flakes. I mush it all together to make it more sausagey, then turn on the heat. You can do this before in a bowl and refrigerate to let the flavors meld, or just buy the preseasoned stuff if you have no allergy concerns. Cook the sausage until nice and browned. I’ll often add a couple cloves of minced garlic right at the end to prevent it from burning. Sometimes I’ll add chopped onion halfway through the meat cooking, but my kids totally pick it out so I figure it isn’t worth the effort.

Then I add the cup of cream. Yes, cream. Half and half if you must, but the extra flavor of cream is so much better. And it’s a good fat. Really. I choose local creams (Straus or Clover) that are ONLY cream without any stabilizers. Simmer for 5 minutes. It reduces and gets really nice and thick.

Then, instead of canned tomatoes, I add a box of Pomi chopped tomatoes. I love these, because they’re just tomatoes. And that’s all I want. Citric acid added to most other canned varieties give me hives. These taste nice and fresh. And they’re in a cardboard box. Very cool. I’ve used the strained tomatoes they make for this before in a pinch, but I like the texture of the chopped better.

As these tomatoes don’t have any of the spices or salt added to other canned tomatoes, I do throw in a little extra oregano, salt, and usually 1-3 teaspoons of sugar at this point while adding the spices in the recipe. Nice handful of sage, a little sprinkle of red pepper flakes depending on the taste buds of the potential diners.

Now simmer it for the time your pasta cooks. A good 10-15 minutes, so have it going before you throw the noodles in the boiling water. You do have water boiling nearby, right? And then drain the noodles and toss them in the pan. Combine. Serve with grated parmesan. Yum. Hope you like it too!