Monday, September 08, 2008

Fresh Tomato Sauce

With a little time and a little love, you too can have the most glorious, simple, fresh, bright, delicious tomato sauce ever!


What do we have here:

6 large tomatoes*, softball size!
Salt
Pepper
Fresh basil

What more do you want? What more do you need?

Step 1: Peel the tomatoes. Seed them and cut them into chunks.
Step 2: Place in a large pot and season liberally with salt and pepper.
Step 3: Over medium/low heat, simmer for 90 minutes, stirring regularly.
Step 4: OPTIONAL: Use a potato masher and schmush the tomatoes into smaller chunks.
Step 5: When the tomatoes have cooked down to the consistency you'd like, add the basil. This made just about 2 cups of finished sauce.


Done. You just need the time and the tomatoes.



*In this case, we happened to have heirloom tomatoes from the community market. J-lo went on Saturday and brought home a dozen. 1/2 of them are still a little too green, so I'm hoping to repeat this process next weekend. But they were so delicious. Sweet with a bright acidic note on the backend.

6 comments:

Dancer in DC said...

I love when Scotty makes tomato sauce, but this is really something special. The flavor is so ridiculously FRESH! It needs neither garlic nor onions to be enjoyable.

Charles Boyington said...

So how much basil for 6 tomatoes? Rough guide on salt an pepper, tsps?

Stef said...

oooh, that color is heavenly!

ScottE. said...

Charlie: The basil, salt and pepper really are to taste! That's a great thing about this recipe. Add the salt and pepper in pinches and taste. You have the right amount when it tastes right. I didn't measure, so I don't know how much I used.

Basil...also to taste, but since you actually need basil leaves...I think for this amount I had about 1 TB chopped.

Dancer in DC said...

By the way - the tip to make tomatoes ripen is to put them on a sunny windowsill. Ours have pretty much fully ripened after about 3 days!

ScottE. said...

I loved this recipe and want to make more! But 90 minutes in a long time to simmer...your house will sure smell tasty though. If you're in a hurry, check out this recipe at Chez Pim.

15 Minute Tomato Sauce