Why Tomato Paste Is A Crucial Ingredient For Bold Red Sauce

A good red sauce can turn even the simplest dishes into wonderfully satisfying eats simply because of the complexity that tomato brings. Just some boiled pasta or even some bread topped with it can taste great. What's more, you can use it as the base for more complex dishes that range from hearty soups to Mediterranean comfort foods like shakshuka and moussaka. However, there are a few crucial tricks and ingredients that can make or break the sauce, whether you use a good jarred sauce such as Ina Garten's go-to pasta sauce or pick out the perfect tomatoes for a homemade sauce and put in the work yourself.

Tomatoes are a gold mine of flavors that are waiting to be extracted and enjoyed. A rich tomato sauce often needs to be slow-cooked to deepen its flavors and give the final result a luxurious mouthfeel. However, there's a way to add that depth without simmering the sauce on the stove for hours — just add tomato paste. Note that tomato paste is different from tomato purée and is much more concentrated. This higher concentration gives it depth of flavor that can be easily transferred to your red sauce, resulting in deeper flavors and textures without an extended cooking time.

Tomato paste generally comes in a tube or a small can and unless you plan on using all of it at once, the former is easier to store. Remember that this ingredient is very concentrated, so you'll likely only need a few tablespoons for your recipe. If you're using canned tomatoes in your sauce, about 2 tablespoons of tomato paste per 28-ounce can of tomatoes is the maximum you should use. 

Buying the right tomato paste is also crucial. Italian varieties generally taste the best, and be sure to check the ingredients to ensure that it contains only tomatoes and salt. Finally, look for a tomato paste that says "Doppio Concentrato," for double concentration which means the taste is even richer. Triple-concentration varieties are also available but are better suited to large-batch cooking.

To use tomato paste, first cook the raw tomato flavor out. Start with a few tablespoons of olive oil and the required amount of tomato paste in a pan. Cook on medium heat while stirring constantly until it has loosened up and starts smelling a little like roasted tomatoes. At this point, if you're making sauce from scratch, go ahead and add garlic, onion, and a little bit of the potentially unexpected spice that levels up pasta sauce and continue cooking. If you're using jarred sauce or want to use tomato paste as a thickening agent for soup, simply add it to the dish and stir to incorporate.