I believe the oil component of a sauce of a pasta sauce, for example is the critical lubricating factor. It is here that herbs and spices will get infused. Wherever the oil goes thereafter so will the flavor from herbs and spices.
When you add tomato puree, the puree itself cannot get absorbed by the oil so significant bits of non oil mixed puree will exist in the final sauce. This will not absorb the flavors of the herbs and spices, so there isn't an equal distribution of herbs and spices throughout the sauce.
Is this correct, or would you say a sauce such as dolmio, or homemade has the oil mixed with and well distributed in the tomato? Put another way I don't think herbs/spices are soluble in pureed tomatoes, so I don't expect a good distribution of the flavour throughout the puree.
Best Answer
I think you're getting a little caught up on minutiae.
True, oil & water [or tomato purée] don't mix - however, oils & water can be emulsified. In other words you can create a mixture that appears to be a single liquid - like a solution - even though one is actually suspended in the other rather than being permanently intermixed.
You can 'fix' this emulation in a pasta sauce by adding a little cornflour [or any starch] a couple of minutes before the end. It effectively binds the two together, certainly for longer than it takes to eat it; and in fact semi-permanently in food terms.
Some people [including me] don't like to do this because it removes the glossy sheen that the oil imparts to the sauce, & though it certainly helps adhesion to the pasta, makes for a slightly more homogeneous look to the sauce itself.
Whether you use any type of starch binder at the end or not, so long as you have your actual water quantity low enough by the time it's served that it doesn't drain through to the plate [allowing for a little last-minute absorption by the pasta itself] then your sauce to all intents & purposes will be 'a single entity', with the oil & water sufficiently mixed that no-one is going to spot it isn't actually a solution, but an emulsion.
The flavours will balance, no matter which component each herb or spice is technically dissolved in.