
Flash back to last Thursday.
We were getting ready to leave town on Friday,
and I didn't want to leave all of this on my counter.

So's I decided to make a tomato sauce
and I'll show you how to do it.
First you want to peel all these tomatoes.

The easiest way to peel tomatoes
is to bring a big pot of water to a boil ...

... and drop a few tomatoes at a time
in the boiling water.

Boil for about 30 - 60 seconds
until the skin starts to split.

Like so.

Then find a cute dog acting silly
and take a picture of him.

Drain the 'maters in a large colander.

And shoot more puppy shenanigans.

Gotta love that Junior.

Take a serrated knife and cut out the stem.

The peel comes right off quite easily.

What you want to do next
is seed and juice the tomatoes.
Hold the tomato in one hand
and insert fingers in the jelly sacs and squeeze.

Juice and seeds come right out.

Tomato pulp on the left.
Pan of inedible seeds and skin on right.

I started out with onions and garlic.

Mince the garlic and chop the onions.

Add the onions and garlic to a little olive oil
and let the onions sweat.

Chop some pepper ...

... and add to the pot.

Add in the maters.

You could chop the tomatoes before adding
but I didn't bother.
I'm using my wooden spatula to break them up a bit.

Or you could scissor them.

I like to add a few tablespoons of sugar ...

... and some Kosher salt.

I have lots of basil growing.
I picked a large handful,
chopped it and ...

... added to the pot.

I also picked some fresh oregano ...

... and some thyme.
All you need to do is hold the stem in one hand
and strip the leaves off with the other.
If you use dried herbs,
remember they're more concentrated than fresh,
so go easy.
Taste as you go along.

Cover and let sit over very low heat
for a few hours.

This sauce is lovely and oh-so-very-fresh.
The difference between canned tomato sauce
and fresh tomato sauce is like night and day.

I cooked some whole wheat spaghetti,
browned some hamburger meat for my boys
(They have to have meat in every meal,
else they don't consider it a meal.),
poured my tomato sauce over top,
and added grated Parmesan cheese.
There's just nothing like fresh tomato sauce.
I ain't canning when it's 100+ degrees outside
so I just poured the rest into serving-sized freezer bags
and froze it.
Now I can have a bright taste of summer
in the middle of winter.
Whole wheat spaghetti??!! YAY!!!!
ReplyDeleteThat fresh tomato sauce looks delicious! I have not had a garden in the last few years and am now only growing a couple of tomato plants on my deck in SNH (due to the darn deer in my back yard). Miss the days of being able to make fresh sauce. ENJOY!
ReplyDeleteFresh tomato sauce is wonderful. Have you ever used your immersion blender to smooth it out? Thank you for the pictures of Maxine's garden. It is lovely and shady and inviting.
ReplyDeleteNMOAC, You could certainly use the immersion blender to smooth it out, but I prefer it chunky.
ReplyDelete