I'm quite new to cooking. I want to make spaghetti and all the recipes I've found for spaghetti sauce so far have required multiple types of canned tomatoes. However, I only have fresh tomatoes, nothing canned. I do have the basic spices (garlic, sugar, salt, pepper, etc), just no canned tomatoes.
Should I just finely chop my fresh tomatoes and put them in a pan with the spices? Should I add water or some kind of liquid?
Best Answer
Recipes that call for canned tomatoes usually do so because these are picked and preserved when at peak ripeness, as well as saving you the trouble of peeling. For whole or chopped canned tomatoes, you can substitute fresh tomatoes (get the ripest ones you can) that you'll have to peel yourself. For other canned tomato products (like passata or paste), you will need to process the fresh tomatoes to get the same result.
Note that if the recipe calls for canned tomatoes and a pinch of sugar, you might want to omit or dial back the sugar. Recipes often include sugar to counteract the higher acidity of some canned tomatoes.