August 5, 2007

Too many tomatoes!


I planted quite a few varieties of tomatoes this year. Most of them are heirloom varieties (Brandywine, Mortgage Lifter, Old German, Anna Russian) but I was fortunate enough to find the kind of sauce tomatoes, the San Maranzano. They are very similar to roma (or plum) tomatoes, but are a bit meatier and less acidic. At any rate, I have them coming out of my ears at this point, and decided to make a fresh tomato sauce. With this heatwave we've been having, I diddn't want something too heavy. I decided a fresh tomato sauce tossed with pasta would be perfect. I used penne rigate, that I had cooked just short of al dente. Then, I added the cooked pasta to the sauce and cooked for an additional minute or two. Topped with some good parmigiano-regiano cheese, and some basil for garnish. Ahh, I'm going to miss summer!

Fresh Tomato Sauce
2 pounds fresh San Maranzano or Roma tomatoes, peeled and chopped (any tomato will do, I used a large Brandywine in my last batch)
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. fresh garlic, minced
1 tsp. kosher salt
8 fresh basil leaves

Heat olive oil until shimmering over medium high heat. Add garlic, and cook 30 seconds. Add fresh tomatoes and salt, and stir. Once the sauce begins to bubble, reduce heat to low. Cook for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sauce has reduced to the desired thickness. Tear basil into smaller pieces and add to the sauce in the last few minutes of cooking. Can be stored in an air tight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.

7 comments:

Kayte said...

looks great! so happy to see you blogging again!

Tara said...

yum! i made a big pot of fresh sauce yesterday too. glad to have you blogging again - i've been waiting a long time to see what comes out of that new kitchen of yours! :)

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

This fresh tomato sauce sounds lovely. I wish I had an overabundance of tomatoes...I now live in a condo I have to rely upon the farmer's market and the charity of friendss. Looks delish!!!

Anonymous said...

Mmmmmm, I love fresh tomato sauce, doesn't it make you feel so good to know they came from your garden, too?

Unknown said...

This looks like food for the gods! I am going to whip some up tomorrow. One of my co-workers has been bringing me tomatoes for a couple of weeks now. I found you on the Foodie Blogroll, don't you just love that?

Rasa Malaysia said...

Thanks for the recipe...I love pasta but always get store-bought pasta sauce, which tends to be too sweet. This is great...now I can make my own sauce to this recipe of mine.

The Little Kahuna said...

I wish I had a place to grow tomatoes!