Summer Cooking: Tomato Sauce

Last Saturday at the Farmer's Market my favorite farmer was selling these bad boys for $1 a pound:

I just love a pile of red, ripe tomatoes, don't you?

Time to make some tomato sauce (recipe courtesy of our friend, Kara)! You'll need about 3 pounds of fresh tomatoes plus 1 cup each carrots, onion and celery:

Vegetables, meet my leetle friend:

Et voila! Chopped fine, in no time!

(If you're a freak like me and love to clean the kitchen as you cook, don't clean the food processor. Resist! Leave it out for later!)

I'm sure everyone out there knows this little tomato peeling trick, but if you don't, please observe. It will change your life:

Cut a little X in the end of each tomato. Plunge in boiling hot water for 30 seconds.

Remove with slotted spoon (see how they can hardly wait to get undressed? Tomatoes are kind of vulgar that way). Place in an ice water bath. Use your fingers to slide those skins right off.

And this is my favorite part of the recipe, where the real foodie in me comes out. Put the skins on a plate. Squeeze those skins to render all juice possible. You want every last bit of delicious late Summer goodness in your pot of sauce.

Squeezing skins + taking photos = big splotchy mess.

I'd recommend just squeezing the skins and taking pictures later.

Pick out your vehicle for slurping up this sweet sauce. My family likes this:

While I prefer the nutty sweet goodness of spaghetti squash!

Simmer tomatoes, chopped veggies, 1 TBS salt and galoop of honey for 30 minutes, uncovered:

Blend it all up (in batches) in that food processor. (Aren't you glad you didn't scrub it out?) Add 1/2 cup olive oil and simmer for 15 minutes more.

Dish yourself up some noodles, top with sauce and fresh grated parmesan, and have yourself a delicious, nutritious, lycopene-packed November Summer dinner!

Fresh Tomato Sauce

3 pounds tomatoes

Cut an X in the bottom of each tomato. Place in boiling water for 30 seconds, then plunge immediately in ice water bath. Peel tomatoes, reserving skins on a plate. Squeeze the juice out of skins into pot with tomatoes.

To pot add:

1 cup each finely chopped carrots, celery and onion* (use your food processor)

1 TBS salt

1/4 tsp sugar or a galoop of honey (yes, galoop is a technical term)

Cook at a steady simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.

Puree mixture in batches in food processor or blender until smooth. Return to pot and add:

1/2 cup olive oil

Cook at a steady simmer uncovered for 15 minutes more. Makes about 5 cups sauce.

*I totally forgot to add onions tonight and the sauce was still incredible. Hmm.