Tony Gemignani's Hand-Crushed Tomatoes
One of my secrets to making a really great chunky sauce with lots of flavor is to add some hand-crushed peeled tomatoes. But I don’t mean just tomatoes you squish between your hands. That’s okay for sauces that simmer for hours. But for a fresher sauce like this, I pull out the stems, seeds, and any tough sections; break up the flesh; and, most important, drain the tomatoes well so they don’t dilute the sauce.
Servings: 1 cup
Ingredients
- 1 28-ounce can whole plum tomatoes Valoroso or DiNapoli brands recommended
Instructions
- Put a strainer over a bowl.
- Working over a second (discard) bowl, lift a tomato, pinch off the head (stem end) and any unripe areas, and let those pieces drop into the bowl. Some tomatoes may not be deep red. I prefer not to use those, but it’s your call.
- Open up the tomato, remove any skins, seeds, or tough sections and add them to your discard bowl.
- Break the cleaned tomato into small pieces or strips and put them in the strainer. Keep in mind that these will not be blended, so if they look too coarse for your taste, run them through your fingers to make smaller pieces.
- Continue cleaning and crushing tomatoes until you have the amount called for in your recipe.
- Press gently on the tomatoes to strain as much liquid as possible.
- Discard the contents of the discard bowl and the bowl below the strainer.
Notes
- Start with the best canned plum or pear tomatoes you can find. I recommend Valoroso or DiNapoli brands.
- If you have great fresh tomatoes, check out the roasting method in my Early Girl Tomato Sauce recipe.
- Whether you start with canned or cooked fresh tomatoes, you’ll want to rinse your hands frequently as you work, so set up your station near the sink or have a bowl of cold water nearby.
- One 28-ounce can of tomatoes should yield 1 generous cup (250 grams) crushed tomatoes.