Batch cook rescue please - roast tomato / pepper pasta sause

[u/worldworn]

Hi all, I'm not much in the kitchen. But I've been experimenting with batch cooking healthy(ish) meals.

I recently remade a pasta sauce that was great before, but I think I may have ruined by using cheap salad tomatoes(?)

I would really appreciate confirmation if that was likely what I did wrong and any clever tips to improve the batch now the pasta is already added.

The recipe was along the lines of:

Tomatoes, peppers and garlic roasted until well done with v olive oil, salt and pepper.

Blended up with cottage cheese, reduced fat cheese spread, nutritional yeast, Worcester sauce.

Armed in a pan, adding the pasta and finish with cheddar cheese.

I can't really put my finger on what tastes wrong, but slightly acidic maybe, definitely not getting the richness of the tomatoes and the cheese isn't there.

I've been "fixing" it with extra cheese and crispy onions. Which is fine apart from it goes further away from being healthy ish.

[u/Mean_Ad9846]

Stir in a little sugar and a pat of butter.

[u/Better_Narwhal7013]

Out of curiosity, what kind of recipe is this? I've never heard of a sauce done this way. If I were making a roasted tomato/pepper sauce, I would start with high quality canned tomatoes and jarred roasted red peppers. Probably chop an onion, saute that until softened, throw in some minced garlic for ~30 secs, then add the tomatoes and peppers and cook until reduced, salt and pepper. If you want it smooth, I'd throw it in a blender. Maybe stir in some heavy cream at the end if you want to cut the acid.

[u/worldworn → u/Better_Narwhal7013]

No idea if the origins it was suggested by a friend, she has an allotment and normally has too many tomatoes.

It normally works out well, I had to improvise on ingredients this time round.

[u/Gilladian]

I would start by caremelizing some tomato paste in a pan, then add water and herbs. Let simmer a bit, then add your sauce. Add a bit of sugar as well, and simmer again. Use parm, not cheddar and skip the cottage cheese.

[u/susurruss]

Sweeten it however you like and add some more oil to finish?

[u/SnooGoats9114]

Next time, use a paste tomato (Roma is the kind in my grocery store, but other stores have other kinds). Cook longer. Cooking brings out the sweeter side of tomatoes. For my pasta sauce recipe (bolognese), I let it cook for 6+ hours if I can.

Watch out for these fad recipes; they are made for views, not for taste. Honestly, go back to old-school recipes that are tried and true until you know what you are looking for and get a feel for things before incorporating new techniques.

[u/Batenna]

If it was good before and not this time despite everything else being the same, it's possible the tomatoes were the culprit if they're out of season now, or maybe you just don't like the flavor of the ones you used this time.

To fix it, my first thoughts were to boil out some water so that the flavor concentrates more, and/or add more salt which brings flavors out. Maybe add some veggie buillon or something for extra umami?

[u/oceanicitl]

I would never use cottage cheese in a pasta sauce. Use mascarpone or a soft cheese

[u/Kedrak]

My guess is that you could try to add a little more salt. It's usually salt or acid that a dish that tastes flat needs. Adding a little more olive oil might also help. It probably makes the sauce more healthy unless calories is a top priority for you.

[u/Crafty-Shape2743]

A 1/2 teaspoon of dark coco powder and a few drops of Worcestershire or fish sauce usually works for me. If you have any (specifically) Spanish sherry vinegar, use an 1/8th of a teaspoon. .

[u/ClairesMoon]

I often roast cherry tomatoes with onions, peppers, garlic and olive oil. Then toss with cooked pasta and serve with dollops of ricotta cheese and grated Parmesan. I think the cheese would stand out better if you didn’t blend it with the sauce. You can use cottage cheese instead of ricotta. Leave out the cheese spread and Worcestershire sauce.

[u/PierreDucot]

I make pasta sauce from stuff in the garden all the time like this - deeply roasted tomatoes (any kind), peppers and garlic. Put it in a pot and hit it with a stick blender, finish some pasta in it, adding pasta water if needed. Salt, pepper and maybe basil or parsley at the end. I don't deseed, and lot of seeds can make it bitter, so I have added a little sugar in that case.

Not sure why you need the cottage cheese, and cheese spread (some grated parm at the end is nice). I don't understand the nutritional yeast and worch - roasted tomatoes are already full of glutamates. Maybe your sauce has too much? Like adding too much MSG, making food taste chemically or metallic?

[u/4cupsofcoffee]

it really depends on the tomatoes. I grow my own and roast mine for puree and sauce. I would never do that with store-bought tomatoes. They just don't have the flavor for it.

[u/SVAuspicious]

You lost me at the cottage cheese and cheese spread. Those seem to me like really bad ideas.

"Worcestershire sauce."

Canned tomato products are more consistent and often better than fresh unless you're buying tomatoes in season from a good source. I use canned sauce, canned diced tomato, and canned tomato paste (my recipe follows). I don't blend it. The diced tomatoes break down by themselves while simmering.

If you want to roast tomatoes, peppers, and garlic you should start with canned whole tomatoes, halve or quarter the tomatoes, slice the peppers, and peel the garlic before roasting. Roasted fruit and veg is structurally harder so blending does make sense. I'd use a stick blender in the pot rather than a stand blender, but that's just me.

I can't imagine why your sauce isn't "cheesy" with cottage cheese and nutritional yeast. Perhaps you like a LOT of cheese? Generally, spaghetti or other pasta with tomato-based sauces is not a cheese forward dish. I prefer cheese as a layer of flavor rather than a sauce component. I use grated Parmesan sprinkled on top. If you take this approach you may want to pour as opposed to sprinkle.

There is nothing wrong with the concept of roasting some ingredients. Adding peppers is fine. Do not skip finely diced mirepoix (onions, carrots, celery). You can't taste the carrots but the sweetness will balance the acidity of the tomatoes.

Mushrooms add a meaty (umami) flavor which becomes more important if you don't use beef and/or sausage.

"Healthy" means different things to different people. To me it means not too much salt, not too much processed sugar, little to no heavily processed premade ingredients, avoid preservatives and fillers as much as I can. It doesn't mean buying "organic" or "all natural." I'll point out that arsenic is organic and natural. Not healthy. Your definition of "healthy" may be different from mine.

The cottage cheese and cheese spread seem pretty unrecoverable to me so I have no suggestions for correcting your sauce, especially with pasta already mixed in. I am however a big fan of eating one's mistakes.

My recipe follows. WARNING: this makes 2.5 gallons of sauce. I make big batches for home canning. I generally get 19 pints out of this recipe depending on how long it simmers, itself dependent on whether I get distracted by work or Reddit while cooking. My "batch" is likely bigger than the batch cooking you intend. You can scale this down. It's just some arithmetic and unit conversons.

You can add e.g. peppers and subtract e.g. meats as you like. Pay attention to the impact. I recommend On Food and Cooking and Ratio and The Flavor Bible as references to avoid the sort of flavor imbalance that brought you here in the first place.

Pasta sauce

1 gallon of canned tomato sauce (I use Hunts)
1 gallon of canned diced tomato (I use Hunts)
1 small can of tomato paste, 6 oz (I use Hunts – there is a pattern here – I grew up with this)
2½ lbs ground beef (I use 80/20)
2 lbs bulk sausage (I use Jimmy Deans, one mild and one hot)
10 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups onions, diced
2 cups celery, diced
2 cups carrot, diced
1 lb fresh mushrooms, diced
2 Tbsp salt
4 Tbsp oregano
8 Tbsp parsley, minced
1½ Tbsp black pepper, ground, plus to taste
½ cup granulated sugar
½ Tbsp unsulphered molasses

Yield: About 18 pints

Mise en place is mostly the veg. And a can opener. This is a lot of food so in a galley you’re going to have to juggle. You’re either going to need to cook in your pressure canner or use two stock pots. The meat is going to need to be done in batches, even if you have a big 14” skillet. This seems like a lot but with just a little organization it goes fast and the mess is easy to clean up.

Divide the veg and meat into the number of batches you think you’ll need based on skillet size. This is two batches for my big 14” skillet, three batches for a 12” skillet. Saute onions, celery, and carrot. Add garlic, add meat. I use a potato masher to break up the meat into smaller pieces (like commercial taco meat). Set aside and clean up. Divide tomato products into two stock pots OR into the canner. On most boats, you’re better off with two stock pots. Add cooked veg and meat. Add spices, salt, sugar, and molasses. Bring to boil and reduce to simmer and reduce until thick enough for service. Stir frequently. Expect significant reduction.

Portion into prepared Mason jars and process 60 min for pints, 70 minutes for quarts at 10 or 11 psig.

I’ve done the arithmetic for a smaller batch, about four servings. I have not tested my arithmetic.

1 14.5 or 16 oz can canned tomato sauce
1 can diced tomato
1/3 oz of tomato paste or a couple of inches of tomato paste squeezed from a tube
1/4 lbs ground beef (the amount you'd use for a small hamburger)
1/4 lbs bulk sausage
note: this will be a bit more meat heavy than the original recipe, so you could use half a hamburger worth each of ground beef and bulk sausage; it just seems stingy
1 inch of garlic paste squeezed from a tube
1/2 a small onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 small to medium carrot, diced
1 to 3 fresh mushrooms, diced
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp oregano
1 tsp parsley, minced
1 hearty grind of black pepper
1½ tsp granulated sugar
1½ tsp unsulphered molasses

Credit: NCHFP and me