I am sure I am not the only person to make basic tomato sauce this way, because it is such a simple idea. All the same, I don't know anyone else who does it just like this, except for a few people who liked it and asked. I thought I'd set it down, and then you can tell me how your nonna always did that, only better , or that it's right in the Joy of Cooking somewhere. I will be relieved to find out how it arrived in my brain, since I have obviously blocked that out.
The key is that you use equal quantities of real summer tomatoes, peeled , seeded, and chopped, and canned plum type tomatoes, preferably San Marzano. This way you get both the fresh tang of the garden tomatoes, and the more intense flavor low notes of the canned ones.
You combine a 28 oz can of tomatoes with an equal weight of the fresh, which you peel, seed and chop. You drain the canned tomatos, and you can save the liquid from them separately, in case you want to thin your sauce later. You include in the mix any liquid that oozed out of the fresh ones, (seeds strained out) and puree both kinds of tomatoes together until smooth, using a food processor, or with an immersion blender. (I am happy to report that I have replaced my defunct and lamented immersion blender, which was cordless, with another Braun, but a plug-in one this time. It was, of course, a plus to the clumsy not to be dealing with a flapping cord. But I suspect the sudden death of the first blender had to do with the recharging apparatus, so I went for the very simple. I contemplated a fancier model, but it looked kind of unwieldly. I'm enjoying wielding the new one.)
The rest is the usual tomato sauce thing. In a heavy pan, you gently sweat a chopped yellow onion, a finely chopped carrot, some chopped fennel (or celery) and a clove or two of garlic in a bit of olive oil. When the veg are transparent, you add the tomatoes, salt, pepper, a pinch of crushed pepper flakes,a bay leaf or two, and a bit of grated nutmeg. Bring it to a simmer and cook down to the desired consistency for whatever you are making.
It can be very thick and almost spreadable, or quite soupy, and works both ways. About 15 minutes before you think it will be finished, add some suitable fresh herbs (basil, marjoram, whatever goes with what you intend.) Naturally, you can include additional desired vegs at the saute stage, too. Taste for seasoning and if it isn't perfect, try a pinch of sugar. Of course you can make up or adapt all sorts of variations, including some oven roasted tomatoes in the mix, or dried porcinis and so on. It is good, in simple and fairly light form, as a sauce for a vegetable tian, or a cauliflower cheese, and makes fine base for a rich, multi-meat ragu, or tradtional lasagna.
Well, nice for the summer, you may say,when real tomatoes exist, but this is the great part- the sauce is almost as good frozen as fresh. So theoretically, if you were a real pantrymeister, you could make bags and bags of it in the summer, freeze it, and use it whenever. I like to think that if I had my own place and space for a real freezer, instead of my inadequate and quirky top of the fridge shoebox, that I would do this to the max. But I must say, I doubt if I actually would.
Because here's the thing. Obviously, delicious home canned tomatoes would improve this sauce, and be even more of a boon to the all-canned-tomato winter sauce I make. There is absolutely nothing preventing me from putting up a years supply of canned tomatoes. I may not have a freezer, but I can always find shelf space somewhere for something really good.
Don K., the farmer responsible for my weekly farmbox, just sent out an email "tomato alert" saying that many extra bushels of tomatoes of various desirable types were available for purchase this week. Why did I not jump on this and order enough to make vast quantities of canned tomatoes? Well...I only have 8 oz and 2 qt ball jars in the house, and you need to do tomatoes in quarts.
Sure. Truth is, I just don't feel like canning a winter's worth of tomatoes. I do like a well stocked pantry. I love gloating over my little hoard of small batch jams and pickles and brandied fruit, all in a row, but I don't really like canning lots and lots of tomatoes. And I like making sauce when I'm about to use it for something, and maybe one extra batch to freeze for next time.
But I think I will get a half bushel and do a few jars of tomatoes, if they are still available next week. Home canned tomatoes can be so fine.
One of the benefits of apartment life is the opportunity for whinging about all the things you are not allowed to do, or don't have space for, while avoiding the responsibility for shoveling the walk, fixing the leaky faucet, dealing with the flooded basement. Truth is, I'm a pretty lazy woman. If I move, it won't be for the big freezer, it will be because I long for my own greengage plum tree.
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