Home Cooks Online

Turn garden tomatoes into a homemade sauce for dinner, or freeze it for a delicious mid-winter meal.

Tomato Sauce. Photo: Nathalie DulexAs the bounty of garden fresh tomatoes continues, I’ve started making sauce.  My homemade sauce is very different from what usually comes in a jar, even a good-quality one.  For one thing, freshness can’t be bottled, and homemade tomato sauce has a superior fresh taste.  I toss in some diced hot peppers for heat, a bit of red wine for depth, and whatever chopped herbs I’m able to reach without too much effort.  I could eat just the sauce by itself for dinner.  My next goal is to become one of those women who preserves, but I haven’t quite gotten there.  I used to dread the thought of having to peel tomatoes, but it really is not a big deal.  In fact, if the counter is overflowing with tomatoes and you don’t have time or energy to make a sauce, just do the peeling part, then dump the skinned tomatoes whole into Ziploc bags and put them in the freezer.  Some chilly Sunday in the future, you may find yourself in the mood to make a sauce, and there will be bags of your very own ready-to-go tomatoes.   I’ve become a regular Betty Crocker.

Homemade Tomato Sauce Recipe

• 10 or more ripe tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 medium carrots, diced
• 1 hot pepper (only as hot as you like), seeded and diced
• Salt & pepper
• 1 cup red wine
• 1 handful fresh herbs, chopped (basil, oregano, thyme - mix & match)

Skin Tomatoes:

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil.  Rinse the tomatoes and pull off the stems.  Prepare a large bowl with ice water and set in sink.  
2. Once the water is boiling, put in as many tomatoes as will comfortably fit.  Use a large spoon or one of those Wok Strainer Spoons to transfer the tomatoes.  Keep an eye on the tomatoes because it won’t take long and you don’t want them to cook.
3. Put the lid on to keep the water boiling, and as soon as the skin splits on the tomatoes (maybe one minute), pull them out and plunge them into the ice water.  Continue in shifts as necessary until all of the tomatoes are finished.  
4. When the tomato has cooled enough to handle, remove it from the ice water and pull off the skin with your hands.  Use a knife to core the stem end as necessary and quarter the tomatoes.  Keep in a bowl while preparing the rest of the ingredients.  

Make Sauce:

1. Heat olive oil in stock pot and add onion, garlic, carrots and pepper.  Stir and cook a few minutes until just beginning to soften.  
2. Add the tomatoes and season with salt and pepper.
3. Add red wine.
4. Simmer over low heat one hour.  For a chunky sauce, the tomatoes can be broken up with a spoon.  For a smoother sauce, use an immersion blender (worth every penny) to process to the desired consistency.  
5. Add fresh herbs, and simmer another five minutes.
6. Serve over pasta, on baked chicken breasts, add cooked sausages for a stew or let cool and freeze for later use.

If you pour it into mason jars with homemade labels, please send me a photo.  Maybe it will inspire me.