The Original Basic Tomato Sauce
Popular belief is that this recipe originates from Naples and is the original tomato sauce for pasta.
There are several stories as to how it was invented but when the Tomato arrived from the New World it was considered to be poisonous or worse the Evil Apple from the Garden of Eden. It was originally sold as an aphrodisiac in the markets of Naples.
Alleged to have been created by a magician who lived in a tenement building in the back streets of Naples, he aroused the interest of his neighbours because he lived on the top floor never opened the windows or shutters and was never seen outside. He was seen in his rooms holding strange instruments and carrying pots of boiling water, some swore they had seen blood dripping from his hands. Every day he would send his servant out to buy herbs and vegetables from the markets. Finally one day able to see what he was doing one of the people watching him a girl called Jovanella, saw him boiling up pasta and making a sauce from the various herbs and vegetables which he then poured over the pasta and ate.
Jovanella stole the idea and before long her fame spread and she became a very rich and popular woman.
Ingredients – 6 Servings:
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1 carrot – scraped and finely chopped
1 onion – peeled and finely chopped
1 stick of celery – finely chopped
2 tablespoons of chopped mixed herbs or parsley
1 pound of very ripe Italian plum tomatoes – de-skinned and chopped roughly
Salt and pepper
Method:
Heat the oil and fry the carrot, onion, celery and herbs until the onion is soft, add the tomatoes and stir thoroughly, season with salt & pepper simmer in a covered pan for app. 30 mins stirring occasionally.
This is the most basic sauce and is the basis for most of the recipes involving a tomato sauce, Italian housewives will make large quantities of this, it will keep for about 4 days in a fridge or 1 month in a freezer.