My first year growing tomatoes ❤️ Loving my moneymakers and getting slightly overwhelmed! I’ve already gifted a ton to neighbors and friends. Thinking a big batch of sauce to freeze might be the answer. What’s your favorite recipe? (Do I really have to skin them?)
by Interesting_Bit8173
7 Comments
I never skin mine. Cut in half, toss in olive oil, sprinkle with garlic, salt, and Italian seasoning, then roast at 375 for about 45 minutes. Let them cool and then blend ( I use a handheld immersion blender) if it’s being frozen it’s okay if it’s a little watery because when you heat it up it will thicken but if you want it thicker right away, cook it down on medium heat for 5-15 minutes. If it tastes a too acidic add a tsp of sugar. If you like fresh basil, add it towards the end, right before you serve it. My family already misses my weekly homemade summer sauce 😫
Okay! From my grandma. 🙂 Can be used for sauce or soup. Super easy!
Ingredients:
One pile of tomatoes like yours, chopped in halves or quarters
One whole peeled onion.
Cinnamon: 1 small stick or ¼ teaspoon cinnamon powder (just enough to warm the flavour, not make it “cinnamon-y”).
Salt: Start with 1 teaspoon, then adjust later.
Baking Soda: a pinch or so
Method:
1. Put the chopped tomatoes in a heavy pot with the whole onion and the cinnamon. Sprinkle in the salt.
2. Simmer on low, uncovered, for like two hours until most of the water is gone. Stir occasionally so it doesn’t scorch.
3. Remove the onion and cinnamon stick (if using a stick).
4. Sprinkle in one pinch, or quarter teaspoon, of baking soda and stir, so it fizzes up. This is cancelling out some of the acid to give it a smoother taste.
5. Once the fizz settles, take off the heat. Blend it smooth with an immersion blender if you have one.
This is your most basic and delicious tomato sauce! You can also add Italian spices if you want: oregano, basil, thyme, etc.
However, you can also very easily turn this into delicious tomato soup by adding step six:
6. *Slowly* stir in cream or milk. Half to 1 cup, depending on your taste.
This is my favourite recipe. 🙂
Pro tip – you can cut these into chunks, put the chunks on a baking sheet, put the baking sheet in the freezer. When the chunks are frozen, put them in a vacuum seal bag and put them back in the freezer. You’ll have tomatoes the rest of the year for salsas and sauces. It’s way easier and faster than canning, too.
Just did a “quick sauce” yesterday with a few leftover tomatoes that didn’t get roasted and frozen over the weekend—
Thoroughly wash and chunk up tomatoes— remove the stem and core— throw into a blender and do a quick purée (leaving as chunky as you want for the final product). Sauté onion and garlic in a pot. Add in the tomato purée along with chopped fresh basil, oregano, thyme, salt, pepper and some honey (or sugar). Depending on thickness, add some tomato paste if needed. I make my husband taste test and he always tweaks the spices/herbs and salt levels since I tend to go to light 😜
I’ve always done the “roast and peel” thing with my tomatoes but this was an easier way to process a smaller number (made just under 2 quarts this way) — we had it over eggplant, mozzarella, and tomato stacks with a couple meatballs in the side—- freezes well too.
Or not a sauce recipe per say, but you can also use up several whole tomatoes by making a ‘one pot fresh tomato & pasta’ —super easy—-pasta, stock of choice (or water), chunked up tomatoes, paste, Italian seasoning, garlic, fresh basil and parm cheese— cooks in one sauté pan basically in the time it takes to cook the pasta! Grill and slice sausage to add at the end or leave it meat free for a meatless Monday!
I like to puree Onions, carrots, and garlic, with some ample olive oil, and the tomato skins (some blenders won’t fully pure the skins, just leave them out)
Then oil your pot slightly, and add the puree. Cook for a bit and let it simmer. Salt + pepper (minimal)
Around here I’ll add some more olive oil if needed
Then make the sauce according to recipe
Add some basil in the last 5-10 min or so of cooking if you add, don’t want to overcook the basil
Add some more salt + pepper to taste
It will usually come out a orange hue because of the carrots (which I like, reminds me of vodka sauce)
Edit: I like incorporating the skins in my sauces to reduce waste, and more vitamins
[YouTube (the recipe I used)](https://youtu.be/KDqTwfcDp8E?si=aBSaWI6gw2aBIPVx)
Edit:edit: you don’t have to use “Italian tomatoes” I used my homegrown Moneymakers, Purple Cherokee, and German Queens. Made a fantastic sauce
Dunk them in boiling water for ~30 seconds. It loosens the skin so that it just sort of slides off. Unless you have a food mill it’s worth it to skin them for a sauce, the texture is far better without the shreds of skin mixed together.
Marcella Hazan’s tomato-butter sauce gets all the love but I prefer her recipe for tomato sauce alla carrettiera:
– 2 lbs peeled and crushed tomatoes (I use a stick blender, but you can just use your hands in a pinch)
– 5 tbsp olive oil
– 5 cloves garlic, crushed
– salt to taste, about 1 1/2 tsp
– a few grinds of pepper
– a large bunch of basil
– Throw everything except the basil into a medium saucepan and cook at a rapid simmer for 1 hour, until slightly reduced and not too watery. Off heat, add chopped basil (do this right before you eat it—basil doesn’t reheat well).
Food Wishes Fresh Garden Tomato Sauce [link](https://youtu.be/9QLJVa7sirA?si=aHtht5-r2ZOTCAnW). Freezes great.
Brian Lagerstrom’s salsa roja (the recipe is in his Chicken Tinga video – [link](https://youtu.be/oWG_UXtOrXE?si=RLJhiTO4Tc3T46eA)). Freezes great.
Butter chicken is *phenomenal* with homegrown tomatoes, and is great for cherries, since the curry is blended and sieved. [link](https://youtu.be/a03U45jFxOI?si=u02WInIjcmIXeTBn) to my favorite version. You can freeze the sauce before you add the cream.
Another thing I often do is pluck the green stems out, cut them in half, toss them in a pot with a bit of water to get the process started, cook them down until they turn to mush, then pass them through a food mill to get rid of all the skins and seeds. You do not have to do this unless you are going to water bath can (in which case it IS essential unless stated otherwise in the safe tested recipe); however I do not care for the texture of the blended skins. I then cook down the sauce a bit more and then freeze it.