As you could probably gather from the title of this post, we’ve got several items to discuss today so let’s get right to business. First up, I’d like to offer congratulations to Mike, of Good Things about Living Out West, who is the winner of the very first giveaway on this site! Congratulations Mike – your copy of The America’s Test Kitchen Family Baking Book is on its way! Many thanks to everyone who participated in the giveaway. I had a lot of fun reading about your resolutions!
I’d also like to let you know that sign-ups for the third round of Secret Baker are underway. You can read my original post explaining more about Secret Baker here and you can check out the posts that Sarah and Margaret put together to recap the November and December rounds. If you haven’t participated in previous rounds and would like to join us, please email the following information to traceysculinaryadventures@gmail.com:
– Your blog address (if applicable)
Wow, this is a wordy post – finally a photo! ๐
Since I’ve begun cooking and baking more, there are certain items I try to make at home rather than buying at the store. Bread, for one, though I’ll confess I still buy English muffins because we go through them quickly and I just don’t have the desire to make that many English muffins! Ice cream is another item as well as pie crusts and pizza dough. One thing that I never, ever buy anymore is jarred tomato sauce. It’s so easy to make at home and usually cheaper! I rarely plan ahead, though, so you probably won’t find me simmering my sauce all day on the weekend and then freezing it to use during the week. Instead, I go with quick recipes I can start at 5 pm and still have on the table for dinner. I’ve made a 15 minute recipe from Cook’s Illustrated that’s delicious (and I’ll eventually blog it) but today I want to share a recipe that you can throw together in 5 minutes!
I discovered this recipe on 101 Cookbooks and we made it for dinner earlier this week. We had a simple pasta dish and this sauce was the star. It’s bright and fresh with just a bit of surprise heat from the crushed red pepper. This recipe calls for lemon zest, which I’ve never added to my tomato sauces before, but it was brilliant. This one is definitely worthy of a repeat here!
Five Minute Tomato Sauce
from 101 Cookbooks
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (I only used 3 tablespoons)
1 1/2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3 medium cloves of garlic, finely chopped or put through a garlic press
1 28-ounce can crushed red tomatoes
zest of one lemon
Combine the olive oil, red pepper flakes, salt, and garlic in a cold saucepan. Stir while you heat the saucepan over medium-high heat, saute just 45 seconds or so until everything is fragrant – you don’t want the garlic to brown. Stir in the tomatoes and heat to a gentle simmer, this takes just a couple minutes. Remove from heat and carefully take a taste. If the sauce needs more salt, add it now. Stir in the lemon zest.
I am so ready for more pasta with this sauce! I’m getting hungry just thinking about how tasty it was!
Homemade sauce is the only way to go. Love yours!
Oh, okay, I guess Mike can have the book! ๐
The sauce sounds de-lish. I will NOT buy sauces either. It’s too easy to make and taste much better! And the quicker the better. I’ll have to try this one!
The homemade sauce looks great and sounds so easy. I may have to give it a try.
Thanks for the sauce recipe, sounds great and easy! I really should make more recipes from 101 cookbooks; all the ones I’ve tried have been delicious and healthy.
This looks so good and so easy! I am going to try this next week.
This sauce sounds amazing. At only 15 minutes to make there is no way I CAN’T try it!
Thanks so much (I NEVER win these kind of things)! That sauce doesn’t look 5-minutes – more like you slaved “all day”! I bet it tastes wonderful… copying the recipe now!
Great post! Copied down the tomato sauce to try…I have my own version but I like to try others as well. Happy to hear that Mike won the book…I think he will be someone who really enjoys using it. Healthy homemade for SB…hmmm…my guys are usually not thinking healthy when they are looking for snacks, so might have to sit this one out unless they change their minds. They are the primary eaters of things like this around here, so it would be a shame to have someone bake something and then they don’t eat it. On the other hand, maybe they would be converts. Let me see if I can find something to make in return…do you have any ideas? If so email them to me. ๐
I love homemade sauces and especially love that this has lemon zest. Yummy.
I am excited about this month’s secret baker too! Should be fun.
I’ve blogged this sauce before – it’s a favorite with us. I’ll be interested to see what everyone bakes for Secret Baker. I’m going to keep sitting on the sidelines for awhile; mailing packages is my Waterloo…
I tried this recipe last night, it was incredible. I think the lemon rind just makes it so bright. I’ve tried numerous sauce recipes, 31 years married to an italian who loves sauce. This was the best in my book. Wow THANK YOU!!!!