So what do you do when your neighbor brings you 4 pounds of late-season tomatoes at 7:30 am? I have not made tomato sauce enough to wing it, so I got out "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone" by Deborah Madison, and figured out which sauce worked for me today. I chose the fresh tomato sauce, which took very little time; you wash and quarter the tomatoes, throw them in a big pot, add 1 T. chopped basil for each pound of tomatoes if you have it, and cook over med-high heat, covered, until the tomatoes break down. This takes from 10 -20 minutes. Then you pass them through a food mill to remove the skins and seeds. If you don't want to use a food mill, you'll need to peel the tomatoes before you cook them.
Let cool and freeze if you don't need to use the sauce right away.
When you're ready to use the sauce, you can season it with crushed garlic or an herb that goes with the dish you're making.
Another way to prepare tomatoes is to roast them. This post talks about roasting them. I tried this delicious tomato basil soup a few weeks ago and thought it was as good as the one I'd had at French Meadow Bakery. My husband hates tomato soup, yet he liked it! I did not add the canned plum tomatoes, because I had plenty of fresh ones, and I think 1/4 cup oil is too much for roasting the tomatoes, especially if you roast them at a lower temperature. I added enough to coat the tomatoes lightly with oil.
Here is Debra's sauce recipe: Peel and chop ( or put through a press) 2-4 cloves of garlic, grate 1 small carrot. In a dutch oven, or saucepan,saute garlic and grated carrots is about 2 TBSP. olive oil until fragrant ( about 2 minutes. Add 1 small-medium chopped onion. Saute until onions are translucent. Add 1/2 chopped green pepper/ When pepper is soft add 2-3 cans unsalted tomato sauce and 1 can, diced tomatoes. Add 1 tsp dried oregano, 1 tsp, basil, 1/4 tsp thyme, 1-2 bay leaves and salt and pepper to taste. After a few minutes add 3-4 TBSP dry red wine. Simmer sauce on a low flame for at least 30 minutes uncovered. I often leave mine on all morning on a very low flame to let the flavors marry.
I (Corene) made this using my fresh tomato sauce instead of the canned tomato sauce.
Eating only real food is challenging in our culture. Cooking from scratch, though rewarding, takes extra time, something most of us do not have an abundance of! However, you can make small changes in what you buy at the grocery store with little effort. It simply involves choosing foods that are "real" instead of their "fake" counterparts. You may need to read labels the first time to become aware of which products have no added chemicals, high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated fats, etc., but in future shopping trips you it won't take any longer because you will know what is REAL. That sounded like something from the Velveteen Rabbit, but oh well.... Here are a few examples:
--1/2 and 1/2 instead of liquid or dry creamer
--peanut butter that is just peanuts and salt
--pure maple syrup, not corn syrup and flavoring
--whipping cream that you whip at home, instead of cool whip
--plain yogurt, that only says "cultured milk"
--just popcorn, not the microwave kind
--Newman's brand salad dressings, or better yet, make your own
If your family doesn't care for the flavor of plain yogurt, stir in a teaspoon of honey or jam. If you're missing your pumpkin spice flavored creamer, make your own with heated milk, a spoonful of pumpkin puree, a little sugar or honey, and spices. I realize that real maple syrup is expensive, but the cheaper fake stuff is not good. You could serve it less frequently or use fruit and plain yogurt as a topping instead.
