Tomato Time
A great friend of mine shared 8 or 9 ripe tomatoes from her garden. The excessive rain affected my own personal bounty so I was more than thrilled to get them.
There's nothing that says, "Spring," more than slices of fresh tomatoes, lightly salted.
As I sat and enjoyed half a tomato, I began thinking about what to do with the remaining tomatoes. Since I live alone, I knew I would make myself sick, although love every juicy bite, if I sat and ate them all like that, but instead, I decided to make some Tomato Basil Sauce.
Now, granted, it would take a LOT of tomatoes to make very many jars of sauce, but I believe in using what I have, eating what I like and not obsessing about how much I make. I just enjoy the process, I guess. Besides, I don't have a lot of storage in my tiny kitchen. So, I set my mind to making whatever 8-9 tomatoes would make! (I later learned that 6 pounds of tomatoes makes 1 quart of thick sauce, if that helps anyone.)
The fact is, I have SEVERAL gardener's cookbooks and I even have a Ball Canning Recipe Book somewhere, but I couldn't really find what I wanted so I made up my own recipe. I'll share it here for you single people who want some great sauce for a plate or two of pasta, a small pizza or two, or something else equally Italian.
Tomato Basil Sauce
Place the following into a medium pot or dutch oven (I used my grandmother's dutch oven):
8-9 medium tomatoes (washed, cut in half cross-wise, seeded and then diced into 1/2" pieces, reserving juice and adding to tomato mixture)
6-8 basil leaves, (wash, roll tightly like a cigar and then chiffonade basil--slicing into thin ribbons)
1 teaspoon of coarse sea salt
1 teaspoon dried garlic or 2 garlic cloves, minced
Bring tomato mixture to a boil for 5-10 minutes, then lower heat and simmer for 20 additional minutes. Using a potato masher or back of a wooden spoon, mash the tomatoes, continue cooking until sauce thickens slightly.
Remove from heat, pour tomatoes through a fine sieve over a small metal bowl to reserve excess liquid, then pour sauce into half-pint jars. (I ended up with a pint, more specifically, two half-pints.)
NOTE: I used the excess tomato "juice" for drinking and also added a tablespoon or two of thicker sauce to a cup of juice for tomato soup! I don't waste anything!
Later that week, I cooked some German Spaetzle noodles, added a dab of butter, and poured the lovely sauce over them for a delicious dish, adding a fresh salad and broiled ciabatta bread!
