Salsa rubra: the recipe for homemade Piedmontese red sauce

The rubra sauce Where red sauce it is a thick and tasty preparation, considered the ancestor of ketchup. Sweet and sour sauce typical of Piedmont, also known as bagnet ross, prepared with tomatoes, Red bell pepper, onion, garlic, carrot, celery, chili, sugar, red wine vinegar and flavorings and used to accompany mixed boiled meats or, in general, hearty main meat dishes, such as roast. Although the preparation of this sauce derives from ketchup, in Italy it was called rubra – Red in Latin – for political reasons during the fascist era: a provision of July 1923, in fact, prohibited the use of foreign words. This name has since been adopted to designate this creamy and intensely fragrant sauce.

You can flavor the rubra sauce with a pinch of Mustard powder, which will give an even more aromatic flavor, and replace the sugar with 1 teaspoon of honey and fresh tomatoes with i peeled tomatoes.

How to prepare rubra sauce or red sauce

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Wash the pepper, divide it in half and remove the stem, seeds and filaments (1) and cut it into cubes (2). Wash the tomatoes, blanch them for a few minutes in boiling water, drain and peel them. Cut the tomatoes into cubes, removing the seeds and internal filaments (3).

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Chop the carrot, celery and onion (4) and brown the vegetables in a pan with extra virgin olive oil and chili. Then add the peppers, tomatoes, red wine vinegar, sugar, basil, garlic and salt and cook with the lid on low (5), until a thick sauce is obtained. . Mix everything with a hand blender, add a little more extra virgin olive oil and salt. Your salsa rubra is ready to be served hot or cold (6).

storage

You can store salsa rubra in the refrigerator for 5 days. If you want to keep it longer, put it in sterilized, airtight jars.