Tomato sauce can refer to many different sauces made primarily from tomatoes, usually to be served as part of a dish, rather than as a condiment. Tomato sauces are common for meat and vegetables, but they are perhaps best known as bases for sauces for Mexican salsas and Italian pasta dishes. Tomatoes have a rich flavor, high water content, soft flesh which breaks down easily, and the right composition to thicken into a sauce when stewed, without the need for thickeners such as roux or masa. All of these qualities make them ideal for simple and appealing sauces.
Fresh tomato sauce
A tomato-based sauce containing tomato puree, diced tomatoes, and unseeded red, yellow, and green bell peppers. It is seasoned with fresh garlic, basil, oregano, paprika, Cajun seasoning, crushed red pepper, and parsley.
Chile relleno covered in tomato sauce served at a traditional fonda restaurant
Penne pasta served with tomato sauce
Pasta is a type of food typically made from an unleavened dough of wheat flour mixed with water or eggs, and formed into sheets or other shapes, then cooked by boiling or baking. Pasta was traditionally only made with durum, although the definition has been expanded to include alternatives for a gluten-free diet, such as rice flour, or legumes such as beans or lentils. While Asian noodles are believed to have originated in China, pasta is believed to have independently originated in Italy and is a staple food of Italian cuisine, with evidence of Etruscans making pasta as early as 400 BCE in Italy.
A collection of different pasta varieties
Making pasta; illustration from the 15th century edition of Tacuinum Sanitatis, a Latin translation of the Arabic work Taqwīm al-sihha by Ibn Butlan
Boy with Spaghetti by Julius Moser, c. 1808
Typical products shop in Naples, Italy, with pasta on display