Red Wine Tomato Sauce Recipes

Steps:

• Separate the tentacles from the long body of the calamari, if not done already. Slice the body, or calamari tubes into rings about 1/2 to 2/3 inch thick, set aside.
• In a saucepan, combine tomato sauce, red wine, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, black pepper, cayenne pepper, basil, and cheese. Simmer on medium low for about 30 minutes to give the alcohol in the wine time to evaporate, and all the flavors time to blend.
• Add the calamari to the sauce. Continue to slowly simmer for about another 20 - 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Calamari is done when it is plump and more opaque. Do not cook on higher heat or for a longer period, as calamari is famous for becoming rubbery.

Steps:

• Sauté onion and garlic in oil over low heat for 15 minutes-until very limp.
• DO NOT BROWN!
• Add sage and sauté 5 minutes.
• Add tomato sauce and wine-simmer UNCOVERED 10 minutes.
• Then cover and simmer for 60-90 minutes.
• Stirring occasionally.
• Uncover and simmer to desired thickness.
• Season to taste with salt and pepper.
• Serve over spaghetti, gnocchi, pierogies, sausages- whatever sounds good to you!

Steps:

• In a large pot, sweat the chopped onions and garlic in the olive oil over med-low heat.
• Add the peeled tomatoes, crushing them with your hands one by one into smaller chunks. Be careful- they squirt all over the place! Make sure to pour in all the liquid in the cans as well. Add all ingredients except salt, cheese, and wine.
• Stir all ingredients together. Cover, and increase heat to med-high. Simmer/cook 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally so that the sauce doesn't burn on the bottom.
• Add about 1/3 of the bottle of merlot. Add the cheese. Stir, reduce heat slightly and let that cook uncovered for another 15-20 min, stirring occasionally.
• Taste and determine if you need salt, and add to taste. For salt with a little tang, add some more cheese, if you have it. Let simmer another 15 minutes uncovered, stirring occasionally.
• During the last simmering stage, cook your pasta.
• Serve over pasta (1 ladleful is gracious plenty). Extra sauce can frozen for up to a month. To reheat, let simmer on low uncovered, stirring frequently so the sugar in the merlot doesn't burn.
• *Spicy alternative: For a spicier sauce, use shiraz in place of merlot and add 2 tsp of dried red pepper flakes.

Steps:

• Bring a pot of water to a boil. Have ready a large bowl of iced water. Plunge whole tomatoes in boiling water until skin starts to peel, 1 minute. Remove with slotted spoon and place in ice bath. Let rest until cool enough to handle, then remove peel and squeeze out seeds. Chop 8 tomatoes and puree in blender or food processor. Chop remaining two tomatoes and set aside.
• In a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat, cook onion, bell pepper, carrot and garlic in oil and butter until onion starts to soften, 5 minutes. Pour in pureed tomatoes. Stir in chopped tomato, basil, Italian seasoning and wine. Place bay leaf and whole celery stalks in pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 2 hours. Stir in tomato paste and simmer an additional 2 hours. Discard bay leaf and celery and serve.