San Marzano Tomato Sauce Networking

Who says you can't cook in a tech lab?

We tossed together some fresh pasta sauce today in Social Networking class.

Learning to cook... how it effects your health, how it can bring folks together... all worthy goals for learning how to leverage social networking tools.

Here's a summary...

We diced the garlic (showed folks how to peel cloves), and white onion. Chopping ingredients consistently... a finer art

Used two cans of San Marzano tomatoes, and pureed them gently so the sauce had a a thick consistency

In a hot pan we tossed in some extra virgin olive oil and then the garlic and onion. Sauteed until very slightly brown

Added the tomatoes

Brought to a boil, then simmered

Added more garlic, salt, pepper, and about 4 pinches of sugar (it was a very large batch)

Then we added fresh chopped basil

Kept adding here and there, seasoning to taste.

We had to cook the sauce fast. Elapsed time to bring this sauce from start to eating was 40 minutes. Not too shabby.

Charlie Robbins (the BBA kitchen) helped us out by cooking our pasta. We picked it up hot and with some extra virgin olive oil mixed in (keeps it from sticking together).

... and the we ate!

Many folks saw how to make their own fresh pasta sauce for the first time. We fed 16 in class, plus Neil Freeburn, Kevin Morrison, Bill Muench, myself... and a few others... 24 total for $28.01. 

Many thanks again to everyone for making cooking, researching our ingredients on the web while we prepped, and cleaning up a social event too.

Good company and good cooking. A spice of life.

Engage...