Simple tomato sauce

We've harvested hundreds of Roma and cherry tomatoes over the last few weeks, so I decided it was time to make some pasta sauce. I've adapted this recipe over the last couple years from a variety of sources.

Here's what I used for this batch:

Ingredients: 75-100 Roma and cherry tomatoes 2/3 cup basil leaves 1 white onion, roughly chopped 8 cloves of garlic, roughly diced 1 tablespoon butter salt & pepper

Tools used: 3 quart covered sauté pan turner/flipper/spatula blender colander large bowl

Melt the butter in the pan on low heat, and add the onion and garlic. Let those simmer a while until they caramelize - the onion will become a bit translucent.

While those are cooking down, start chopping your tomatoes. I chop the cherries in half and the Romas in quarters. Once the onions and garlic are ready, add the chopped tomatoes to the pan. Season with salt and pepper to taste. I like to throw about a quarter of the basil leaves in at this point as well. Throw on the lid, and let the mixture simmer for a couple hours.

After a couple hours, the mixture will look soupy, like the photo at right. Add the remainder of the basil leaves.

At this point, you can put it in the blender, but I like my sauce a little thicker, so I drain the sauce through a colander placed on a bowl. What remains in the colander goes in the blender for a rough chop. If it's a little too thick, you can add some of the stock leftover in the bowl.

Remember when blending hot things to take the middle piece out of the lid so it can vent, and cover with a dish towel (I used a red one in this case, so splatters wouldn't stain). If your blender lid doesn't have a little piece to take out, remove the whole lid and cover with a towel. Blend until you like the consistency.

You can use the sauce fresh, or store it in the fridge for later, or freeze it for a special winter treat!