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Cooking notes: Pasta
Aug. 13th, 2022 08:24 pmSo my parents have planted an overabundance of tomatoes in the yard and I've been getting a little tired of all the variations of tomato soup. Figured making pasta sauce completely from scratch would be a good way to use up some, since reduction gets rid of most of the mass. Ended up using maybe 2-3lbs worth of tomatoes to make about 5 servings of sauce. Thought I would also make some notes here for the next time I made it.
( pics )
1. Ground meat
Was too conservative with the amount of minced ginger, could add a lot more next time. Also could add an egg, and probably some liquid/water before cooking, to make it easier to break up and not clump together so much. Probably more soy sauce as well.
2. Blanching & peeling tomatoes
Should cut out the black bits where the stem connects before steaming, instead of trying to dig it out while hot.
3. Reduction
Rate of reduction is much faster with a pan rather than in the soup pot, possibly due to larger surface area; also less splatter. However, it feels like it's easier to mush up the peeled tomatoes in the pot than in the pan. So probably still a good idea to initially start off in the pot, and then move to the pan after everything liquifies.
4. Spices
If the "soup" will be moved to the pan earlier, it's probably better to cook some minced garlic/onion with olive oil, before adding the tomato liquid. Next time can maybe try brown sugar or honey instead of white sugar to balance the sourness.
5. Other
Noted that the initial servings taken right off the stove still felt somewhat more sour and watery than store-bought marinara. However the leftovers that were reheated for dinner had almost the same taste & consistency as store-bought. Guess maybe the cooling process is doing something with the acidity? Maybe next time could try making the pure sauce part the night before, and then stir fry some shrimp/veggies with it the next day.
( pics )
1. Ground meat
Was too conservative with the amount of minced ginger, could add a lot more next time. Also could add an egg, and probably some liquid/water before cooking, to make it easier to break up and not clump together so much. Probably more soy sauce as well.
2. Blanching & peeling tomatoes
Should cut out the black bits where the stem connects before steaming, instead of trying to dig it out while hot.
3. Reduction
Rate of reduction is much faster with a pan rather than in the soup pot, possibly due to larger surface area; also less splatter. However, it feels like it's easier to mush up the peeled tomatoes in the pot than in the pan. So probably still a good idea to initially start off in the pot, and then move to the pan after everything liquifies.
4. Spices
If the "soup" will be moved to the pan earlier, it's probably better to cook some minced garlic/onion with olive oil, before adding the tomato liquid. Next time can maybe try brown sugar or honey instead of white sugar to balance the sourness.
5. Other
Noted that the initial servings taken right off the stove still felt somewhat more sour and watery than store-bought marinara. However the leftovers that were reheated for dinner had almost the same taste & consistency as store-bought. Guess maybe the cooling process is doing something with the acidity? Maybe next time could try making the pure sauce part the night before, and then stir fry some shrimp/veggies with it the next day.
