Garden fresh tomatoes make this sauce a treat you won't soon forget. It's the time of year when tomatoes are abundant and this recipe will help you to clear some of those tomatoes off the kitchen counter. I used about 15 medium sized tomatoes for this sauce and it yielded me about 3 quarts of tomatoes after I peeled and chopped them. Now you don't have to peel them but doing so makes for a much nicer sauce. It's really pretty easy and goes quick if you do it right. First thing put a 6 quart pan about 2/3 full of water on and bring it to a boil. You will also need a 4 quart bowl about 2/3 full of ice water to shock the tomatoes when they come out of the hot water. While you are waiting for the water to boil you need to prep the tomatoes. Start by taking a paring knife and cutting out the core, turn the tomato over and score or cut an X in the bottom. If you have any bad spots cut them out now also. Once you have this done and the water is boiling it's time to peel the tomatoes. Put about 1/2 of the tomatoes in the boiling water and leave them for 30-60 seconds. It really doesn't take long and you should be able to see the skin start to pull away. Remove the tomatoes and place them in the ice water, once you have them all in pick them up one at a time and peel the skin off. It should pull right off, if not they need to go back in the hot water for a little longer. Once you have the first batch done repeat the steps to finish the remaining tomatoes. Now you need to chop the tomatoes. I like to dice them kind of small but you can chop them what ever size you might like. You could also put them in a food processor and pulse it to get a coarse product or if you like you can process the heck out of them for a smooth sauce. Keep in mind though that this sauce will be kind of thin and the finer the tomatoes the longer you may have to cook it to get any kind of thickness. Dump the water out of your bowl and use it to store the tomatoes as you chop them. I did just a couple of tomatoes at a time and then scraped them off into the bowl so I wouldn't lose any of the juice. Now your tomatoes are ready, lets see what else we will need:
Olive oil 1/4 cup
Fresh garlic, minced 5 cloves
Yellow onion, diced small 1/2 medium
Fresh tomatoes, peeled and diced 3 quarts
Sea salt 1 Tbsp or to taste
Black pepper, fresh ground to taste (lots)
Fresh parsley, chopped fine 1/2 cup
Fresh Sweet Basil leaves, chopped coarse 1 cup
Heat the olive oil in a 6 quart sauce pan over medium heat, add the onions and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally until slightly browned. Add the tomatoes, sea salt and black pepper (I used about 50 turns of the pepper mill) and mix well. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20- 30 minutes. At the same time you should be heating water to cook your pasta. I chose a whole wheat pasta but you can use whatever you prefer. One pound of pasta will be plenty although the whole wheat pasta comes in a 13 or 14 ounce package. I guess they figure if you are going to eat healthy you don't need as much. Anyway, while your sauce is simmering get that pasta cooked and drain but don't rinse it. Leave that starch in and it will help the sauce. Also I chose to serve some grilled chicken with my pasta. Now would be a good time to get that cooking. I seasoned mine up with plenty of garlic powder, some fresh ground black pepper and a little sea salt...off to the grill. We also chose to have some grilled sweet corn and I put it on the grill at the same time as the chicken. Now about 20 minutes later and a few trips back and forth from the house to the grill the corn and chicken are done so pull it and back into the house we go. Add the pasta , parsley and sweet basil to the sauce and mix it all in well. Let it heat a little while you get everything else to the table, slice up a loaf of some nice whole grain Italian bread and once again you have a nice hot summer dinner the whole family will enjoy!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment