Although I am not a huge fan of tomatoes I really enjoy two tomato based products: salsa and tomato sauce. Typically I buy tomato sauce pre-made in a jar, but being a control freak I recently starting making my own. This lets me omit preservatives and sugars, avoids potential cross contamination, and for some reason I feel like making tomato sauce merits some sort of kitchen-cred.
What I learned is that it is really easy to make. To make it you'll need:
- 1 can of organic no sugar added tomatoes (whole or diced)
- Half a white or yellow onion.
- Optional: Peppers, celery or other veggies desired
- Half a cup of Water or wine
- Seasoning (salt, pepper, basil, rosemary, etc)
Start by dicing the onion and any other vegetables you wish to include and cooking over medium high heat. If you have whole tomatoes, I suggest cutting them into pieces. Once the onions are cooked, add the tomatoes with the juice from the can, the water and/or wine, and seasoning. Cook at medium high until it bubbles, then cover and simmer for about 20 minutes.
If you like really chunky sauce serve as is. If you like kind of chunky sauce, put half into your blender or food processor and blend. If you like smooth sauce, put all into food processor or blender and blend. Be careful when blending hot liquids - the lid on mine came off when I made this last and hot sauce basically exploded everywhere and I had a lovely burn on my arm as a result (I am a huge klutz).
You can serve this right away, or refrigerate or freeze for later. I usually put mine over pasta, but as I'm sure you know there are many ways we can use tomato sauce. Some of my favorite ways to use it are to make chicken parmesan , to use as pizza sauce, or when cooking ground meat for things like stuffed peppers.
Have you made tomato sauce at home before? Have you ever made it from actual tomatoes? What's your favorite recipe?
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