Sugo

A few of these recipes call for sugo.  Sugo is just a Neapolitan home-cooked tomato sauce which is used as a base for many pizza and pasta dishes.  Needless to say mine is not in any way authentic but I’m adding it here so you can find it without having to plough through other recipes to find the method.

nearly ready

Bland or spicy, as in Roman arrabbiata,  sugo to me indicates a slow stewing together of tomatoes, olive oil and herbs.  Added ingredients could include onions, celery, chillies and or anchovies (they don’t taste fishy here)

• Ingredients: 1 tin /400g chopped fresh vine ripened tomatoes, one finely sliced onion (any sort), 2Tbsp olive oil, a handful of chopped Italian herbs (thyme, marjoram or oregano) black pepper and sea salt. Leaves of basil and parsley for garnish.

• Optional ingredients:  crushed garlic, finely chopped celery, diced red pepper, diced red chilli pepper / dry flaked pepper, a small tin of anchovies – but in this last case halve the olive oil and leave out the salt.

• Method: in a cast iron pot warm the olive oil with half the herbs and add the finely sliced onion, celery and peppers.  When they have begun to sweat down add the tomatoes and the rest of the herbs and any remaining optional ingredients.  Simmer, stirring occasionally for another 45 minutes.  Then you can mash it up with a wooden spoon or perhaps use a hand blender if no lumps are required.  (Try not to get tomato sauce all over the walls)

• The sugo is complete – you can put it straight onto cooked pasta and add a few fresh herbs as a garnish if you want to, or use it in any other recipe which calls for a home-made tomato sauce.

If you want to research more deeply, try How to make the perfect tomato sauce