Provençale Sauce

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •8-quart pot for blanching
• •Large bowl for an ice bath
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •5-quart wide, heavy sauté pan
• •Sharp chef's knife

Instructions

1. 1

   Peel the tomatoes

   Bring a large pot of water to a boil and prepare a bowl of ice water. Cut a shallow cross through the skin at the base of each tomato, then blanch them in batches for 30 to 45 seconds, just until the skins loosen at the cuts. Move them directly into the ice water. Peel as soon as they're cool enough to hold; the skins should slip away without taking the flesh with them.

2. 2

   Make the Concass

   Halve the peeled tomatoes across their equators and squeeze the seeds into a fine-mesh sieve set over a bowl. Press the seeds gently to recover their clear tomato juice, then discard them. Set the tomato flesh in the sieve and press lightly with your palm so it sheds its loosest water without becoming dry. Concass means roughly chopped: cut the drained flesh into pieces about ½ inch (1 cm) across. Reserve the strained juice for controlling the sauce later.

3. 3

   Season the tomatoes

   Put the Concass in a bowl and season it evenly with the salt and black pepper. Toss with your hands or a broad spoon so every piece receives some seasoning. Doing this before the tomatoes reach the oil draws out their first juices and helps them collapse evenly.

4. 4

   Start the fondue

   Heat the olive oil in a wide, heavy sauté pan over medium heat until it shimmers and gives the first faint thread of smoke. Pull the pan from the heat for a moment, then add the seasoned tomatoes carefully in three additions; wet tomatoes meeting hot oil will spit, so use a long spoon and keep your face back. Return the pan to medium-low heat and add the crushed garlic, sugar, and chopped parsley in that order, preserving the book's sequence.

   The oil should only just reach its first thread of smoke. If it smells sharp or looks dark, it has gone too far; take it off the heat, let it settle, and begin with fresh oil.
5. 5

   Melt it gently

   Cook uncovered over low heat for about 30 minutes, stirring from the bottom every few minutes. The tomatoes should lose their angles and settle into a fine, pulpy Fondue while remaining softly textured, with a clear red colour and a fine golden gloss at the edges. If the garlic or tomato begins to brown, lower the heat at once and stir in a spoonful of the reserved tomato juice. Ça se rattrape. If the sauce remains watery after 30 minutes, raise the heat only to medium-low and cook for 5 to 10 minutes longer, stirring more often.

6. 6

   Finish without fuss

   Remove the pan from the heat and stir well to draw the olive oil through the tomato pulp. Taste for salt and pepper. Leave the sauce textured, because blending would erase the Concass and turn a fondue into a purée. Serve it warm beside grilled or roasted fish, lamb, eggs, courgettes, or aubergines, letting it pool generously rather than painting it across the plate. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Choose tomatoes that smell of tomato before you cut them. They should feel heavy, yield slightly at the shoulder, and be fully red through the flesh; hard pale fruit will not acquire flavour merely because you cooked it for half an hour.
• •Outside the tomato season, use good whole peeled canned tomatoes rather than tired fresh ones. Drain them to roughly the same prepared weight and remove loose seeds where practical. The sauce will be deeper and less bright, but it will still be honest.
• •Don't reach for a blender. Sauce Provençale should show the fine, pulpy texture of its Concass, held together by olive oil and gentle cooking. Smoothness here is not refinement; it is the loss of the technique.
• •Cool leftovers promptly and refrigerate them in a covered container for up to four days. The sauce also freezes well in small portions, ready for fish, eggs, or vegetables on another evening.

Advance Preparation

• •The tomatoes can be peeled, seeded, pressed, and made into Concass earlier the same day. Keep the flesh and strained juice covered separately in the refrigerator, then season only when you're ready to cook.
• •The finished Sauce Provençale can be made up to three days ahead. Reheat it gently, stirring in a spoonful of water or reserved tomato juice if it has tightened in the cold.
• •Freeze the cooled sauce in 1-cup portions for up to three months. Thaw it in the refrigerator and warm it slowly so the olive oil returns to the tomato pulp.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 120g)