How to cook real italian tomato sauce: "il sugo"

Today I talk about pasta, specifically about tomato sauce. 

Hi, I'm Marco an italian food blogger. I'm living in Turin, a city in North Italy. I have passion for food and I've decided to write my best typical italian recipes in English to share with all of the world.

I apologize for my English, maybe (definitely) sometimes I'll wrong sentences or verbs, but I would like to share my passion with you and while you will improve your cooking skills about the real italian food, I will improve my english!

In Italian called "Il sugo" and it's the most important dressing for pasta, and no, it isn't prepared with garlic!

Come on, let's cook!

Italian tomato sauce, start to quality ingredient

To cook a good red sauce, you need a quality tomato puree or peeled tomatoes. When you buy this ingredient at supermarket check the ingredients list of the product. In it there isn't be sugar and no added flavors. My favorite tomato puree is "Mutti" or peeled tomatoes "San Marzano".

Servings: 5

Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients to cook real italian tomato sauce

• 24.5 OZ tomato puree (Passata)
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1 tbsp olive oil (better EVO)
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 tsp pure backing soda
• 5 basil leaves

Directions

1. Cut the onions in really small pieces. Even better if you use the pulse function on a blender. It should be really tiny, but not a mush.
2. Into a pot, you heat the olive oil over low heat for 2 minutes.
3. Add the onions into a warm oil and mix with a wooden spoon. Cook the onion always on a low heat for 5 minutes.
   
4. After this time, add the tomato puree into the pan and turn up the heat to maximum. When the tomato puree will boil, add the sea salt and mix. Add the backing soda and mix again. This is a trick to have a sweet tomato sauce and not sour!
   
5. Boil the tomato sause for another 3 minutes and add 1 cup of water and, when the tomato sauce boils again, lower the heat and cover the pot with a lid.
6. Cover "il sugo" and cook on low heat for 20 minutes, sometimes you need to mix it.
7. Turn off the flame and add the basil.

If you want know the method to cook pasta like a real italian, watch my tutorial!

Now you have a real tomato sauce that only italian people eat (almost) everyday with their favorite pasta, like penne, spaghetti, linguine or gnocchi.

Try to cook this easy and delicious dressing, you will feel in Italy!