It Takes a Lot of Tomatoes

I went to the Farmer’s Market yesterday and got all sorts of good stuff; fresh basil, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, even an eggplant.  I still have a few very ripe tomatoes from last week, so I decided to make a tomato sauce.  I don’t think I’ve ever done that before.  The stuff that comes from a jar isn’t that bad, but I’m sure it has lots of preservatives in it.  

 

I read a few recipes on line and got the technique from How to Cook Everything, but didn’t strictly follow any of the recipes.  

Ingredients

• 5 tomatoes, peeled and seeded and chopped into small pieces (drop the tomatoes whole into boiling water for about 30 seconds – skin will split and then easily peel off).  Try to get out as much water as possible.  You can also used drained canned tomatoes too.  
• fresh basil chopped
• 2 cloves elephant garlic, minced
• 1/2 small white onion, chopped
• enough olive oil to thinly coat the bottom of the pan you’re cooking in

Directions

1. Saute the garlic and onions in the olive oil until the onions appear translucent.  
2. Add tomatoes and basil
3. Bring the liquid in the mixture to a boil, but then turn the heat down low and let the sauce simmer until all of the liquid has evaporated.  You will start seeing bubbles in the tomato sauce instead of the liquid.  
4. Pour the mixture into food processor and blend until it’s the consistency you want.  

I did a taste test and this had a similar flavor to the jarred kind, but much sweeter and fresher tasting.  It was a little orange-y in color, but one of the tomatoes was not a very dark red to begin with.  You could still see the basil in the sauce.  It turned out that the recipe didn’t really make a lot of sauce, maybe two cups at the most.  I think I’ll buy many tomatoes next week and make a bigger batch.  It’s nice to have ready made pasta sauce around for week night dinners.