In cooking, there are five basic sauces. The most favorite, popular and sought after by cooks is tomato. Today we will talk about the famous Italian Napoli sauce. In its homeland, the sauce is also called Neapolitan. Today, traditional Italian cuisine uses this sauce as the basis for pasta, pizza, meat dishes. We will tell you how to cook it correctly and reveal all the secrets and nuances.
Invented Napoli sauce in the 16th century. When people realized that a product such as tomatoes is not toxic, they began to actively use it for cooking various dishes. The cook of one of the Neapolitan ships invented tomato sauce, which can be used for almost everything. In addition, long storage was a big plus of this sauce.
Composition of Napoli Sauce
For a novice cook or hostess who is just starting to get acquainted with Italian cuisine, it will be quite easy to prepare this sauce, knowing the exact composition. It is important to remember that only ripe tomatoes, fresh herbs and high-quality olive oil are used for cooking.
- 60 g of garlic;
- 180 g carrots;
- 200 g leeks;
- as many ordinary onions;
- 25 g of granulated sugar;
- 15 g of salt;
- 220 g celery root;
- two and a half kilograms of tomatoes;
- 60 g of garlic;
- 50 g of fresh basil;
- 60 ml of dry white wine;
- two tablespoons of olive oil;
- ground black pepper;
- a mixture of Italian herbs - optional.
Description of the cooking process
If you look at the photo of Napoli sauce, you will notice that it has a very bright saturated color. The secret to this delicious appearance is to use fresh, quality tomatoes. We will divide the entire cooking process into several stages, so that novice housewives make it easier and easier to prepare the sauce.
Stage 1: preparation
Peel onions, leeks and garlic. Cut them into small pieces. The carrot, after it has been peeled, is rubbed on a coarse grater. Wash the tomatoes well and cut them into very small cubes. We crumble the basil.
Stage 2: preparing the base
In a small saucepan, warm the olive oil. As soon as bubbles appear on its surface, you can add garlic and onions. Stew vegetables until transparent. After 3-4 minutes, you can add dry white wine. Stew until the wine has almost evaporated.
Stage 3: add the tomatoes
Now we turn to the tomatoes - the main ingredients of the Napoli sauce. Sliced tomatoes must be transferred to a deep pan, add basil, salt, Italian spices and black pepper to them. You can also put a couple tablespoons of quality homemade tomato paste. We send the pan to the fire. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. As soon as the bubbles appear, reduce the fire and cook the sauce over low heat for one and a half to two hours. Add chopped carrots to the tomatoes.
Do not close the lid. Do not forget to interfere.
After cooking, add the fried onions and garlic to the tomatoes. Turn off the fire. Let the Napoli sauce cool slightly. Pass it through a sieve. At the final stage, you can add fresh basil. Taste it. If necessary, adjust the amount of salt or pepper. For lovers of hot sauces, you can add chili pepper (with or without seeds) during the cooking process.
Storage
Now you know the detailed Napoli sauce recipe and the main cooking steps. It remains to talk about the storage of dishes. As we mentioned above, this sauce is good because it has the peculiarity of being stored for a long time. After cooking, the sauce is poured into a closed container and sent to the refrigerator. Shelf life is several weeks. This is very convenient, because the sauce is prepared once, and then used repeatedly.
Pasta with Neapolitan Sauce
In conclusion, I would like to share the recipe for a quick and simple dinner using the sauce that we just prepared. It will be a classic Italian pasta. It is perfect for both a casual dinner and a festive dinner with friends.
Of the products you need:
- 200 g of spaghetti;
- Napoli sauce;
- basil;
- cheese;
- sweet bell pepper;
- salt.
If you wish, you can add any kind of meat and your favorite vegetables to the dish. The cooking process looks very simple. To begin, boil the paste in salt water until half ready. Then we drain the water and transfer the spaghetti into the pan. Top with sauce, lightly fried sweet bell pepper, basil. Lightly heat the pasta with sauce and vegetables over low heat for five minutes. Then we shift it to the plate. Add chopped hard cheese on top.
The sauce is good in that it is perfect for all types of dishes, except, perhaps, for sweet pastries. It can be put in home-made pizza, in pies and rolls with meat. In addition, it perfectly combines with many vegetables, complementing and saturating them with new aromas and taste notes. We don’t even talk about meat. There is nothing better than a delicious barbecue with homemade quality tomato sauce.