I admit, I was a little intimidated when I decided to give this a try. But, man, it was pretty simple and tasted amazing! So fresh! I have always wanted to try making my own sauce using ingredients from my garden and as I get more tomatoes, I will try to freeze some too! I found a base recipe online to give me some direction and then modified it to fit our families tastes and preferences. Where we prefer a “smooth” sauce, you can make this one chunky if that is what you like. I try to sneak in veggies where I can, especially if my kids don’t know about it. This sauce is the perfect “hiding spot” to get them some extra veggies (think green beans, green peppers, zucchini, squash, spinach, etc!) I also added some Italian sausage about 20 minutes before serving, but that is not necessary. You can easily make this recipe even if you don’t have garden veggies. Canned tomatoes work just as well! Prep took me about an hour. I would recommend getting everything chopped that you can while you are waiting for the water to boil. That will help increase your prep effiency.
Ingredients
- 15 Roma garden fresh Roma tomatoes (or any variety)
- 3 small Green Peppers, roughly diced
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 8 cloves of garlic, diced
- Any additonal vegetables (I added green beans from my garden this time)
- Mushrooms (optional)
- 1-2 TBSP Fresh oregano, chopped
- 1 TBSP fresh basil, chopped
- 2 TBSP brown sugar
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- Olive oil
- Salt
- Pepper
- Red wine
Bring a large pot of water to boil. Place tomatoes in boiling water for approximately 20 seconds. Immediately transfer to an ice bath. You will need to do this in batches. Remove the skin and quarter. Set aside
In a large skillet, add a TBSP of olive oil and heat up. Once heated, add onions, green peppers and any other veggies you want to add. Saute until onions are soft. Add mushrooms (I did not use them) soy sauce and garlic, cook for another 3 minutes. Add in oregano, basil and brown sugar. Cook for an additional 1 minute.
Place the tomatoes and vegetables in a food processor. You will most likely need to do this in batches. Process until your preferred consistency. For our family, that is fairly smooth, so I add everything to the food processor). If you prefer a chunkier sauce, add just the tomatoes and blend until they are consistent with crushed tomatoes. Then add to the pan with the veggies.
Once blended to your preferred consistency, place in a sauce pan. I like to add approx 1/2C-1C red wine at this point (to taste) and salt/pepper (to taste). Stir and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer 2-6 hours, the longer the better. The sauce will thicken the longer it simmers.
I added browned Italian sausage about 20 minutes before we ate, but this is not necessary. Serve over your favorite pasta with garlic bread and salad! The freshness of this sauce was amazing!
I read that this will stay in the fridge for 3 days. If you are not going to eat it right away, you can cool and freeze it in ziploc bags (or can it).
The Adventures of the ChenCrew! 