makes 5 cups (1.2 L)
It’s been my experience that all cooks have their little cooking secrets, ingredients they embrace often to add that something special (and unidentifiable) to a dish. I have a few! Lemon zest is something I add to all sorts of dishes, especially those with rice or in which herbs are a major component; a dash of cocoa, a spoonful of dried mushroom powder, a tablespoon of pureed prunes, (which thicken and season), and a drizzle of either honey or petimezi (grape molasses) are a few of my other little secrets, amassed over the years in an effort to achieve that elusive balance between sweetness and acidity that is the fundamental test of most good recipes.
A few of those little secrets come into play in this classic Greek tomato sauce, seasoned with the trio of cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg. It’s wonderful with pasta and is also the basic support sauce for ground meat dishes from moussaka to pastitsio to good old galley cook’s spaghetti with kima (ground meat).
¼ cup (60 ml) extra-virgin Greek olive oil
2 large red onions, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon dried mushroom powder (see Note)
Pinch of unsweetened cocoa powder
6 cups (1.4 L) chopped or pureed fresh or good-quality canned tomatoes
⅔ cup (180 ml) white wine
1 large cinnamon stick
8 allspice berries
½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2 bay leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 to 2 tablespoons petimezi (grape molasses) or honey
1 to 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Cooked pasta or rice, for serving
Grated Greek myzithra or Kefalotyri cheese or Greek yogurt, for serving
Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over low heat. Add the onions and cook until wilted and lightly browned, 12 to 15 minutes. Add in the garlic and stir a few times to soften it. Stir in the mushroom powder and cocoa and cook for a minute or so to release their flavors.
Add the tomatoes, wine, cinnamon stick, allspice, nutmeg, and bay leaves. Bring to a simmer and add 2 cups (480 ml) water. Bring back to a simmer. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cover and cook over low heat for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until the sauce is thick and has reduced to about 5 cups (1.2 L). Add additional water during the cooking if the sauce thickens too much.
Taste the sauce and add the petimezi and vinegar as needed to adjust the balance of flavors. Season with salt and pepper as needed. Remove the cinnamon stick, allspice berries, and bay leaves before serving.
Serve the sauce over pasta or rice, accompanied by grated cheese or Greek yogurt. Or use it as the base in a ground meat sauce that stands on its own or to make pastitsio or moussaka.
NOTE: You can buy dried mushroom powder online or in gourmet shops, or make your own by grinding any dried mushrooms of choice (I like porcini best) in the bowl of a food processor or coffee grinder until broken down into a fine powder.