Tomato sauce a second way: olive oil and vegetables

Ragazzi, Annalena truly does not like to start her posts this way, but alas, here it is.
Those of you who read comments on this blog, will see the excision of several, over Annalena's last post on tomato sauce. That post dealt with a sauce that did involve, without question, much butter.  It is as the recipe is written, and it is a good recipe.  Nonetheless, there are some who must take issue, period. 

Here is Annalena's position on this:  if you do not care for the recipe, do not make it.  If you care for the recipe somewhat, but wish to make it differently, then do so. Annalena posts the recipes as she made them,   because they worked, and she liked them.  Those are the guidelines here.  Do not criticize the cook because you do not like the ingredient.

And these comments are relevant here, because there are some who will see this and say "AH.  A healthy sauce.  OLIVE OIL"  Well, ragazzi, facts are facts, and calories are calories.  Olive oil has as many calories as butter.  It does NOT have cholesterol, but if you are in a situation where you should be lowering your cholesterol, then you should not be having butter in your sauce, period.   This recipe has every bit as many calories as the butter based sauce.  Is it as good? Yes, but in a different way.  Think of it this way: you would use the first one, where  you would use butter.  You would use this one, where you would use olive oil.  As she writes, Annalena is using half of the recipe to make a baked eggplant casserole (of which you will hear more in due course).  For now, though, let us go to the sauce, which is a modification of a recipe  published by the wonderful Marcella Hazan.

Let us start with two cans of crushed tomatoes.  Or, two cans of tomatoes which you crush with your hands.  As always, 28 ounces, or 32 ounces, is not of relevance.  Put them in a pot and then add a cup, each of chopped celery, onions, and carrots.  You may eyeball this, and you may save time, as Annalena did, by putting the vegetables, in chunks, into a food processor, and pulsing. 

Now, you're ready to start the sauce, after you add a tablespoon of salt.

You read this correctly.  Time to begin.  Remember that making a tomato sauce, is making a reduction.  That is all it is.  If you want a wetter sauce, as Annalena did here, use a pot that is more narrow and tall, then wide and short.  And vice versa.  If you have the heat disperser, use it.  If not, keep your heat very low, such that the mixture of tomato and vegetables barely breaks a bubble, and when it does, set a timer for 30 minutes to simmer away.   Stir it every now and then.

After thirty minutes, pour in 2/3 cup - yes, 6 ounces or so - of extra virgin olive oil.  Use the best you have, because the olive oil taste will be prominent, in a dish where it does not cook long.  Increase the heat a bit and cook for fifteen minutes.   Again, stir every few minutes.  As you reach the end of the time, if you like (and at this time of year, you SHOULD like), add some fresh herbs.  Annalena added fresh oregano, and at the very end, fresh basil. 

And in 45 minutes, you have 2 quarts of sauce.  Now, you can leave this as it is, and have a nice, chunky sauce where the vegetables are evident,  or, as Annalena did, puree it to smoothness.  In the former case, the color of the sauce is red.  In the latter, brick orange.  It is, of course, your call.  As it always is.

Next up:  we use the sauce, to make a lighter version of a pseudo eggplant parmagiana