Think Tomato Sauce Means Italy? Meet Its Greek Cousin
Think Tomato Sauce Means Italy? Meet Its Greek Cousin
Ask most people to picture a jar of tomato sauce and their mind probably jumps straight to Italy. Basil, oregano, a simmering pot of marinara. It's a fair association. But travel further east, along the Greek coastline and up into the mountains, and you find a different tomato sauce tradition altogether. One built on sun-ripened Greek tomatoes, local wine, wild herbs and, sometimes, the catch of the day.
At Greek Taste 4 All, our tomato sauce range is proof that this is not simply an Italian staple with a Greek label stuck on it. It is its own thing entirely, shaped by Greek ingredients and Greek ways of cooking.
What Makes Greek Tomato Sauce Different
Where a classic Italian sauce tends to lean on basil, garlic and a generous glug of olive oil, Greek tomato sauces often go further afield for their character. Retsina and ouzo, two distinctly Greek spirits and wines, appear in ours to add aromatic depth. Wild mountain savoury, a herb that grows across the Greek hillsides, brings a peppery warmth you will not find in a typical Italian passata. And because Greece has such a strong seafood tradition, it is entirely normal to find prawns, tuna or surimi simmered right into the sauce itself, rather than added separately at the table.
The result is a jar that does more of the work for you. Rather than building a dish from a plain tomato base, you are starting somewhere far more developed.
Meet the Range
Our collection currently includes four sauces, each handmade in Greece and each recognised with Two Golden Stars at the Great Taste Awards.
Authentic Greek Tomato Sauce with Porcini Mushrooms brings together sun-ripened tomatoes, wild porcini mushrooms, a splash of white wine and a little cream for a rounded, earthy sauce with real depth. It is wonderful tossed through pasta, but works just as well spooned over polenta or used as a simmering sauce for roasted chicken.
Authentic Greek Tomato Sauce with Creamy Feta Cheese & Mountain Savoury folds authentic Greek feta straight into the tomato base, along with wild mountain savoury for a rustic, peppery finish. Try it baked into pasta, spooned over prawns, or spread onto toasted bread for a Greek take on dakos.
Authentic Greek Tomato Sauce with Seafood & Retsina combines prawns and surimi with a splash of Retsina, the resin-infused white wine that is one of Greece's most distinctive exports. It is built for seafood pasta and linguine, though it is equally good stirred into risotto or poured over white fish before baking.
Authentic Greek Tomato Sauce with Tuna & Ouzo is the one that tends to surprise people most. The ouzo cooks off during simmering, leaving behind only a subtle hint of aniseed that cuts through the richness of the tuna. It is particularly good with squid ink pasta, or poured over butter beans for a quick Mediterranean traybake.
How to Use Greek Tomato Sauce Beyond the Pasta Bowl
Pasta is the obvious place to start, and a jar of any of these sauces is enough to coat orzo or spaghetti for two. But because these sauces are already so well seasoned, they're worth reaching for beyond a straightforward pasta night.
Warmed gently and spooned over grilled or baked fish, any of the seafood-based sauces turn a plain fillet into something that tastes like it took far longer than it did. The Porcini sauce is a good base for a simple chicken or vegetable traybake, and the Feta & Mountain Savoury sauce makes a very good dakos, spread onto toasted rustic bread and topped with a few extra crumbles of feta and a drizzle of Greek extra virgin olive oil.
If you want to see a sauce properly put to work, our latest recipe uses the Seafood & Retsina sauce as the base for a bubbling orzo bake, finished with our Octopus Stifado and a generous scattering of feta. It is one jar and one tin doing the job of a much longer shopping list.
Bring the Greek Coast to Your Kitchen
Italian tomato sauce will always have its place. But if your cupboard has never had a Greek jar in it, there's a different side of Mediterranean cooking worth trying, one built on retsina, wild herbs, good olive oil and, quite often, whatever the boats brought in that morning.
Have a look through the range and find the jar that suits your kitchen.
