// sauce

A good tomato sauce is the foundation for so many wonderful dishes - pizza, pasta, chicken, and fish. Here is a recipe for a basic tomato sauce that starts with a soffritto of onions, carrots, and celery cooked in a little olive oil, to which garlic, tomatoes and seasonings are added. Simple and delicious. The sauce can be dressed up with mushrooms, sausage, olives, wine, and all manner of vegetables. For a tantalizing version of a tomato-based sauce check out Sean's sauce over at Hedonia. What's your favorite tomato sauce recipe?

Real Bolognese sauce requires hours of simmering. But this quick version will do in a pinch. Recipe found in the Sacramento Bee (they picked it up from the Chicago Tribune). A good, everyday recipe.

I did things a little different with the ingredients I had on hand. I used red onions; green peppers only, no red; salami in place of the  chorizo and Serrano ham. Real Serrano ham is so expensive here I'd never put it in a tortilla. I'd rather just eat it on its own. I didn't bother with turning the omelet over, instead I placed it under the grill to set the top.

There are two basic types of tomato-based salsas - salsa made with fresh tomatoes and salsa made with cooked tomatoes. When cooking salsa, as we do when we make enchiladas, we always use the cooked-tomato version, not the fresh. This particular salsa is popular in the north, or Sonoran part of Mexico, because of its use of Anaheim green chiles.