We recently hosted a dinner party for several of Dustin's co-workers.
This was the first time I met one of Dustin's superiors and only the second or third time I met a few other co-workers.
This also meant this was the first time I cooked for any of them.
Oh -- did I mention Dustin talks about my cooking ALL the time to his coworkers. About how good it is. About how he really needs to invite them over so they can taste my cooking. About how I am a personal chef, food blogger and want to run my own restaurant. About how I make the best food in the world? Okay, maybe not that last one, but the others were true.
Talk about building me up! Gulp.
I decided to serve both Chicken Parmesan and Eggplant Parmesan (there was one vegetarian invited).
I'd been wanting to play around with my tomato sauce recipe for a while so I made this Four Cheese Tomato Sauce.
And it was yummy!
The dinner went well. Good conversation. Good kids. Good food.
Four Cheese Tomato Sauce
Equipment
- Stock Pot or Large Deep Skillet
*This post may contain affiliate links for products I use often and highly recommend.
Ingredients
- ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion chopped
- 4 cloves garlic chopped
- ½ teaspoon sea salt plus more to taste
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper plus more to taste
- 2 28-ounce cans crushed tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 6 basil leaves
- 2 dried bay leaves
- ¼ cup parmesan cheese grated
- ¼ cup pecorino cheese grated
- ¼ cup ricotta
- ¼ cup provolone grated
Instructions
- In a large pot, heat oil over medium high heat. Add onion and saute until soft and translucent, about 5-6 minutes. Add garlic, salt and pepper and cook 1 additional minute.
- Add crushed tomatoes, oregano, basil, and bay leaves and simmer covered on low heat for 1 hour or until thick. Remove bay leaves and add the cheeses.
- If using a food processor, add half the tomato sauce into the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth. Continue with remaining tomato sauce.
- If using an immersion blender (possibly the best device ever!), just blend the sauce right there in the pot.
- Season to taste.
- If not using all the sauce, allow it to cool completely and pour 1 to 2 cup portions into plastic freezer bags.
Elisha
This was so easy and delicious. I was able to make 3 jars. This recipe is definitely going in my recipe box to continue to make as my go to tomato sauce.
Dustin
Glad you liked it 🙂
Steven Bauer
How long should a sauce like this keep in the fridge or would it be best to freeze unused sauce?
Dustin
Homemade tomato sauce we should make a batch again and do some pizzas.
Brittany von Arx
Hi, I have a few questions about adjusting this recipe. I understand if the answer is "I have no idea, crazy, picky lady," to all of these, but I figure it can't hurt to ask. First, can you give me a translation to cups of crushed tomatoes, as I would be making it with fresh ones. Second, if I want it less garlic-y, should I just reduce the amount of garlic used, or can I use garlic salt instead, and if so how much do you recommend for a mild garlic taste? And lastly, although I love the taste of onion, I can't stand the squishycrunch texture. I much prefer a smoother sauce. Keeping that in mind, should I still use the same amount of onion because it mushes them up pretty good, or reduced the amount, or substitute it with something else?
I know that's a lot. Thanks for listening.
diana
Hi Lacey,
What can I use this tomato sauce with?
lacey - a sweet pea chef
Hi Diana! I use this sauce for spaghetti, meatballs, chicken parmesan and pizza sauce.
Ellie
I went out and bought everything I needed to make this. It looks absolutely delicious! By the way, your photos are fabulous. Love your blog.
Ellie
lacey - a sweet pea chef
Wow -- thanks, Ellie. Enjoy! 🙂
lisa
can you jar this sauce with the cheese in it?
Lacey Baier
Hi Lisa, unfortunately, I don't believe it's safe to can/jar milk products -- or it would take extremely high temps to process which would be detrimental to the actual food/taste. Though, I'm no expert by any means.