This post about homemade tomato sauce was written in 2011 as a page and was never published. I’m cleaning up the blog for a new theme.
#EatAtMoms
Some of you might be aware that I like to cook. For quite a while there had been a flat of beautiful beefsteak tomatoes on my counter. But they had been there far too long. Long enough to have one melt down. Have you ever smelled a rotting tomato? Whoa. Bad. News. When there is rot on the counter or in the refrigerator, one must face the music. One must admit to themselves that though honorable, the best intentions don’t always get carried out.
So yesterday, after losing one tomato, I decided to make fresh tomato sauce today. I did. Now the house is full of amazing smells. I dug out the old vegetable mill, I quartered the tomatoes, I gave them a spin through the mill and added the results to the mirepoix. Then I harvested Italian (flat-leaf) parsley, tender new rosemary, and sweet basil from my kitchen garden, which is out front. After cleaning and chopping the herbs, I added them to the reducing tomato sauce. That alone was amazing! I wish I could have stopped right there, but John likes a thicker sauce, so I added some tomato paste. To counteract the cloudiness that paste emits to sauce, in my opinion, I added a splash of balsamic vinegar.
How it is possible that a child of mine, Kid2 in particular, does not like anything made with tomatoes, escapes this Jersey Tomato Gal. So, I’ve made her alfredo and oriccheitti (little ears) while we have the fresh sauce with capellini, and spinach ravioli. Mangia!
Lavagal 