Brad Makes Fermented Pasta Sauce

It's Alive with Brad Leone is back for episode 80 and this time Brad is making fermented pasta sauce.

Brad uses campari tomatoes, but you can use any type of tomato you want for this recipe.

Just make sure not to put to much onion in the sauce, Pauly!

- Hey, guys.

[laughs]- [Deep Distorted Voice] Hey, guys.Hey, guys, in "It's Alive,"we're gonna be makingfermented tomato sauce,red sauce, tomato sauce, pasta.It's fermented.

"It's Alive."Let's get to it.

All right.[upbeat bright music][laughs]So to start off, you can use any kindof tomato that you want, okay?Cherry tomato, grape tomato, plum tomato,zebra tomato, beefsteak tomato, anything.I got these little cuties,these little cocktail tomatoesor what else do, Campari cuties, right?Look at these little guys.One vessel or method that I liketo ferment in is the vac bag.I like these.Reuse 'em if you can, but ifyou can't or you don't want to,you can definitely use the old, ah,the old tried and true mason jar.Oh, this one's old.This is an old maraschinocherry experimentfrom about three years ago.It's fantastic.Maybe one day I'll share it with you.But this valve here lets the air outand doesn't let bad things in.[whistles] Good stuff.That's what you want.So yeah, we're gonna do one inthe vac bag, one in the jar.I don't know about you,but I like a cold tomato pastalittle dish, too, sometimes,especially in the summer.You don't even really need to cook thisif you don't want to.Very similar to the salsathat we made a couple episodes back.Let's start with the jar,which will be our cold preparations.Same ferment.They're gonna be side by sideright next to each other,but this one we're gonna do in the jar,and I'm gonna add the Fresno,a little bit of Fresno chili to it.I feel like I rented a house,like an Airbnb somewhere.I'm just like, "Ah, number one rule."If you do that, you gottabring some stuff with you,some tools, some gear,some knives, all right?So what we're gonna dowith this Fresno hereis I'm just gonna slice itup into little rings, right?And it is as spicy as you want, okay?Whatever you wanna do.That should be ample heat.[upbeat electric guitar riff]Then we got garlic.We'll give it a little crush,get that allicin going.You know it.That's it, all right?

Outof the bag into the dish.Easy, all right?

I'm all about that.Now for our next trick, Kevin,let's slice up the shallot.We're gonna do half.I don't want it to betoo too much, all right?Oh, it reminds me.What was that movie?

Was it "Goodfellas"?"Hey, Paulie, put too much onions!"Or I don't know if it was Paulie, but,"You put too much onions in the sauce."You don't wanna put too muchonions in your tomato sauce.I think that was "Goodfellas."[muffled speaking][laughs]What was the guy's namewho was making the sauce?I am the worst.Don't put too much shallotin there unless you want to.So we got our garlic.

We got our shallot.We got our Fresno, okay?

Nice.Now I'm just gonna take these tomatoes,and we'll quarter 'em.Oh my God, this knife isso dull.

It's embarrassing.And it is tough, andit gives a little bit.Ooh, that is bad.[wood creaks]Look at that!

Good God![knife clatters]I'm going home.

It's my fault.I can't get upset.

I should'vebrought my own knives.We're adding half of these, okay?So a little over a pound ofCampari cocktail tomatoesor whatever you wanna call 'em.Who came up with that name?That's what I wanna know, Kevin.- [Kevin] Thomas Campari.Why do you have to know everything?Of course Thomas Campari hecame up with the name.

[laughs]And I got some nice ones.Oh mama, summer's around the corner.If you can, do this with sometomatoes you grow yourself.[horn honks]Woo!

Talk about a game changer.Throw a couple of thetomato leaves in there, too.[water splashes]Ooh, ooh!I don't even wanna do this anymore[light whimsical music with choir vocals]'cause that smells good.I love the smell of tomatoes,but when you get a good tomatothat's ripened on the vine,take one of those leavesor even a little newbudding tomato flower,bruise it up and throw it in the jar.I can't wait to do that!But we're not gonna do that today.Let's just finish thetask at hand here, Brad.This dull knife.

I can't.- [Kevin] Do you rememberPaulie Mastronardi?- Hey, Paulie!

Paulie from Sunset.I'm here with Paulie Mastronardifrom Sunset Tomatoes.Paulie from Sunset Tomatoes.He did the Campari!He named them!

Why Campari, Paulie?'Cause they're cute?Oh God, nevermind.

Whydo I do this to myself?Sound guy, Campari.And he's stumped!Now you can use dried herbs if you want,or you can use fresh if you can.Either or works, personal preference.I like fresh, and it's nice in this.When I first starteddoing this, I was like,"Oh, it's the big it was gonna get weird?Is it gonna get likefunky and black and slimyand just not do very nice thingsin this high acidic ferment?"But it actually did very nice things.So I like to do two leavesof basil, salt for safety.Measure it on a scale, 2% by weight.We're just gonna let that go, okay?I'm gonna give it a little chch ch, little cocktail shakejust to mix things up, get things going.Oh, and we come back inabout four or five days,this mama's gonna be loaded with juice.Everything's gonna be nice andwilty and married and happy.I burp it twice a day, especiallyas it starts to get going.And if it's a little warmer,if all of a sudden it's August nowand not snowing outside, Kevin,[wind blows loudly]then you know what?This is gonna happen faster.You'll start seeing thislittle dome lid start gettinglike that, and that's when youknow you got a problem, okay?You wanna open that.

I'veeven gone like this, okay?A little bomb shield just in case.Put your goggles on and psh,especially with enoughhead space like this.But if you're gonna use a jar,please get a little valveor just be on it, okay?'Cause the last thing you wantis that thing built up a little pressureand little Sammy comes running over, okay?Just had hot chocolate, and he's like,"Oh, what's this thing?"And he opens it up, and boom![man screams][terrifying music]Right in his face, allright?

We don't need that.Let's do our next one.

All right.Check this out, Kev.

I'massuming this is your handiwork.First of all, love the clamp job, okay?Me and you we'll fix thisup one day, bud, all right?One day we'll do it real nice.But nice, we've got power.Fricking love a clamp.- [Kevin] The height of the table?- Oh good God, Kevin!I didn't even notice,you gem of a man you!You put it on apple boxes!

For me?Kevin!

Ah!I'll have to buy you something, a present.I'd give you a kiss ifit wasn't COVID, bud.Good God.

That is the nicest thing.I didn't even notice.

Youknow why I didn't notice?Because it felt so [beep].[relaxing elevator music]Now for the vac bag.

For the vac bag.Tomatoes.

Here, we'll do thisone by the books, all right?Put that over here.

Oh God,this is gonna take forever.Okay.

Let's throw downthe old scale here, okay?And what is a pound?

480.What is a pound of...Sound guy?God, what are we paying him for?[static hisses][tape clicks]I'm just kidding.

I don't mean that.You're very good at your job.All right, 443.

I'm gonnaadd a little butter.All right, that puts us in the 463, okay?Now let's do the basil.

Basil.

[snorts]And the oregano.

Sh, right in there, yeah.466.

2% would be what?Oh, let's just say eight grams.460.

Oh, it's upside down.467 times .02, 9.2.

9.2!Checks out!

Let's seewhat that looks like.Jesus Christ, I can't [beep].[sighs][shoes squeak loudly][audience laugh track plays]And then we'll load up this bad boy, okay?I got my salt.

Zhoosh zhoosh zhoosh.I should have just dumpedit in the bag.

[laughs][laughs] That's what I do back home,but this will work, okay?We've all done stupidstuff like this, okay?Just something stupid.I keep it a little long, andI'll seal it up here, okay?So that next time when Iopen it, I cut the seal off,and voila, fresh new real estate.Okay, vac seal.[machine whirs]And then you can gocrushing it up if you want.I like to maintain a little texture.The fermentation will startto break it down a little bit.What I do like to do is push my fingersand just mush down that butter.But if you smoosh it up like thatand let the tomato juicesstart to play and get happy,now we're getting somewhere, folks.So we got lots of seals on there.Let that ferment and get funky.I'm gonna put it overanother one with the jar,and this, you don't have to burp.You set it and?[game show bell chimes][audience cheers]Depending on thetemperature, yada, yada yada,this can happen in a two days,and this thing could likea freaking airplane pillow,or it could look pretty similar to that.Temperature will control it.

All right.I'll put these over in thefermentation hangout chamber,all right?And boom!

Kev, welcome back.- Thanks, man.- Yeah, I do laundry.I got the same shirt on.

No big deal.But look at our ferments,buddy, all right?Not a huge amount of gas build up,but it's been pretty chillyhere in the New York area.You just cut it rightpast that seal, all right?[snorts]Yep.

That's it, yep.And listen, right out of thebag, it's pretty pleasant.But when you first open it,all those gases aregonna be coming off, too.There's a lot of off flavors.It can be a little,[fly buzzes]like a lighter.It can be a little hot garbagey off,right to the tip of the nose at first,like any ferment, really, but beautiful.And this I'm gonna add to this pan here.I'm gonna reduce it a little bit,let it simmer a little bit.Then I'm gonna add the pasta,a little bit more butter,maybe a little dollop of,dollop is the wrong word,but a little bit of pasta water.And we're just gonna build alittle pasta dish in the sauce.So I'll heat that up, get that going.My little Dutch oven over here, all right?A little olive oil.I'm gonna add the ferment thatwe did with the butter, okay?Gonna add that right inthere.

Just let it simmer.Let some of that liquid cookoff a little bit.

Just cook it.And we're just gonnagive that a little stir.And yeah, we're just gonnalet that simmer down, okay?No big deal.

Meanwhile, drop the pasta.Oh, what's this, Kev, you were wondering?This is, if you know, youknow, but if you're in a bindand this, I don't know,I don't have all dayto look for this thing's lid.And I can't even findmyself in this kitchen.[laughs] And so I use alittle sheet tray as a lid.So open up this bad boy, all right?What's the instructions say?Oh, cook till done, great.[light beeps on][dark eerie music]What the heck was that?Oh yeah, smells good, man.Tomato breaks down a little bit.You see, this is where you can get someof the skins if you want.Before it's hot is the way to do it,but that's what they look likeif you wanna take 'em off.It gets tender.

It's fine.And right when I add the pasta to it,I'll also add the butterand a little dollop.I keep saying dollop.No one dollops water.[horn honks][punch thuds]Boiling water with Brad Leone,where every episode westart by boiling waterand see where it brings us.Man, that's a good idea.[bright upbeat music]Let's work on the title.All right, cool.

I love this shape.It ain't done yet, but look, look at that.- All done?- Just a little carrier.Just a little fun vessel,a little sauce car.[tires screech][engine revs]Oh, do we have a slotted spoon?Yeah, a stupid plastic silicone one.This is what I'm gonna do.I'm gonna grab a few and start out.Jesus, Brad.

Just move it over.And I'm gonna add 'em 'causethey're a little al dente,but I can let 'em cook overin this sauce a little bit.And this is also gonna bring a little bitof the pasta water into the party, too.Yeah, let that thicken up alittle bit.

I'll add the butter.I'm gonna add a littlebit more butter to that.Come on.

We're making pasta.[Dutch oven scrapes against burner]And give it a little sure.Little sure.

A littlestir and a little shake.With the fat and with the water,it makes it a nice saucy,glossy, a little emulsification.Coming down the way hot, Kev, scorching.I always like to pour a littlebit off before the strainer.Yeah, yeah.

That's the move, bud.[pan clatters]That'll be for a cold one.Then we'll rinse it off,cool it down a little.Little basil.Yeah.

It's just adelicious, easy pasta sauce.And to be honest, it'sjust packed with flavor.Okay, for the cold one,it's a little chilled.Now I got a little bowl, all right?Whatever kind of bowl you wanna call it.And this is just a base, guys.You got a little mozzarellacheese, throw it in.God, never again am Inot bringing a knife.I'm sorry, guys, thatI put you through that.Little peppa.[upbeat dance music]Peppa.Little mozzarella wouldbe nice, I tell you what.Yeah, you can have a lot of fun with this,little cold chicken or shrimp.Woo!

I'm gonna do that.

Not now.

[laughs][cheese grates][punches thud]A little looser.

A littlefermented pasta salad, really.I wish I put some shrimp in it.That would be delightful, somespicy little shrimp in there.Hit 'em in the cast ironwith a nice little dry ruband then throw 'em in there cold.Oh, we messed up big time!There it is, pasta, fermentedtomato sauce in a bag,in a jar, cold or hot, you name it.[upbeat music]Bon appétit.Spicy, herby, a littlebasily, a little funky,and then we did the hot classic.And it's just delicious and it's easy.Keep it in a jar.

Keep it in your fridge.Bon appétit, baby.

[laughs]No, but seriously, guys,this was a fun one.Do it at home.

Do it in the summer.Grow your own.

Bon appétit.[soft pleasant music][growls]You ever growl at people?- No.- Not like to their faces.But like sometimes I'm inthe car.

I am part dog.And in this life, I'm a human.But in the last one, I was either a dog,a squirrel, a hawk.[hawk screeches]Anyway, who cares?[dog barks][pleasant jazzy music]