Why call it “my” tomato meat sauce? Because it is a story as long as the time I’ve been living in Italy…
I came to live in Italy because I have followed my heart and married my husband, who is Italian. I was not just young, but very young. I came here with my recipes book to a world where nobody was interested in recipes that were not the local ones. Ok. Got the message. And so I opened myself to learn the local recipes.
But, I don’t know why, they’re never good enough. Maybe I missed a detail, or maybe it was just a different taste. And I go ahead for many years this way, copying from the ones that were good cookers, but always unsatisfied because what I cooked was never “as good as” someone else’s one.
Fortunately life makes its own turnarounds and, after many years, we changed house and city and, finally I found myself confident in my kitchen. I finally stopped copying someone else’s recipes and began to follow my instincts.
And I began to cook better.
Ingredients:
400 g/1 3/4 cups ground beef
1 medium onion
1 clove of garlic
6 cans (400g/14 Onces each) of peeled tomatoes, whole or chopped with their juices
extra virgin olive oil
salt
pepper
How to prepare it:
Add extra virgin olive oil to a deep pan. I add a generous thread, but not enough to cover the bottom. It’s up to you, I always try to use less fat (even if evo is healthy). More oil means more taste, that’s the true ;-).
Turn on the gas and, as soon as the oil is warm, add the ground beef. Make it fry stirring often.
When it is colored, add the minced onion and the garlic – peeled but entire – so you can eliminate if before using the sauce. Stir until well mixed.
Add the tomatoes and stir enough so the tomato will dettach the crusts meat left while frying.
Add salt and pepper to taste and let it boil. As soon as it boils, lower the gas a bit and let it cook, stirring every now and then. For me it is important NOT to add water, but eventually lower the gas if needed.
Cook it for 30/40 minutes. And it is ready!
Buon appetito!
Anna,
This recipe is incorrect in English “Tomato paste” significa conserva. I pomodori in scatola si descrivono ” A can (dando il peso esempio 28 Once/ equivalente in Grammi ) of peeled tomatoes (esempio; whole or chopped with their juices'”
Ciao Marina
Grazie infinite Marina! Non me lo ricordavo e mi sono fidata di Google…
Correggo subito!
Ana,
In Canada dove vivo io, si usano termini in: Once, Grammi, o Cups, ma negli Stati Uniti usano quasi sempre ” Cups” che non molti hanno in casa una bilancia
Un set di Cups, 4 in tutto sono: 1 cup , ½ cup, ⅓ cup and 1/4 cup . I pesi variano dipende da cosa contengono
Grazie per l’ulteriore chiarimento, Marina. In effetti, non capivo perché molte volte trovi soltanto cups e altre ounces…
Io ho il set dei cups. Anche se ho anche la bilancia ;-), trovo che a volte sono davvero semplici e sbrigativi…il problema appare quando dobbiamo tradurre le ricette. Da cups a grammi, basta pesare, ma l’inverso è sempre un po’ più laborioso 😉
Ana,
Anche io trovo i pounds,onces, etc. molto difficili da capire …. per semplificare la mia vita io ho una bilancia dove con posso cambiare con un giusto controlla (davanti) da grammi a pounds .
Quando ho difficolta mi riferisco a dei chart che ho ottenuto sul internet dove mi danno equivalenti ( peso liquido e burro) . Se mi mandi in tuo e.mail posso farti una copia /mandarti di quello che uso altrimenti… fa come hai fatto sempre che ha funzionato fino ad ora .
PS Adoro cucinare e adoro il libri di cucina (ne devo avere almeno 500-600 in Italiano e inglese e continuo a comperare!! ) e molte volte ho trovato errori in conversioni di misure anche da buonissimi cuochi/cuoce… dunque come dicono gli australiani ” no worries”
ciao Marina
Hi Ana,
I am a bit confused, do the peeled tomatoes go in at the same time as the tomato paste? Also, the whole exchange with Marina, is it something I need to know for this recipe? Thank you
Hi Ailuy,
My fault! I added the right tomato but didn’t cancel the wrong one.
It should be right now (I hope 😉 ).
Thank you so very much. You don’t imagine how much I appreciate your comments.
Have a great day 😉
ciao ana, un piacere ritrovarti.
ma dimmi, davvero 6 lattine di pomodori pelati, 2400 gr???
Cara Giusi, piacere reciproco :-)!
Puoi anche preparare metà ricetta, ma dovrai stare più attenta perché non si attacchi, visto che è un sugo molto denso.
Io preparo questa quantità e conservo in frigo qualche giorno quella “in più”, oppure la congelo.