Bella, Bella, Belissimo!

With an over abundance of fresh tomatoes, onions and herbs…what’s a boy to do? Make pasta sauce!
I make fresh pasta sauce a few times a year. The summer harvest of tomatoes gave me a reason to make it last night. With all the talk on the blog of eggplants, I thought I could make a good eggplant parmesan (I am creating a new recipe thanks to a few suggestions…more on that later).

Ingredients
1 dozen varied size tomatoes (medium and large). Add any little cherry or plum tomatoes as well (heirloom, yellow, red, all sorts).
3 medium sized onions in a medium dice
6 cloves garlic, roughly minced
1 bundle of fresh herbs (basil, parsley, oregano)
1-2 inch square of parmeggiano reggiano rind (leftover and kept in the freezer)
Salt and Pepper to taste

In a medium pot, bring water to a boil. Meanwhile chop onions and saute and sweat for 15-20 minutes until really soft and cooked (saute is on medium high heat to start, then turn the heat to medium low so the onions do not get browned).

When water is boiling, stem and core the tomatoes and mark the bottom of each with an ex with your pairing knife. Drop 1-2 tomatoes in the boiling water and stew until the skins become loose. Retrieve them with a chinese strainer or other draining utensil. Immediately plunge the tomatoes into a bowl of iced water to stop the cooking and retract the skin. Once cool, remove and discard the tomato skins (into the compost). With clean hands drain and crush the tomatoes.

Add the garlic to the onions for and cook for one minute stirring constantly. Add crushed tomatoes, cheese rind and cook over medium heat (stirring occasionally)for 30-45 minutes until tomatoes are very soft. Add chopped herbs and salt and pepper to taste.

Plunge an emersion blender into the tomatoes and process until smooth. Cook an additional 30 minutes until the liquid is reduced and the over all sauce is reduced by 25%.

Allow to cool and store in plastic deli or other plastic quart containers (makes two) for at least a day before serving or freezing.

Now you don’t have to give away all of your tomatoes when you have a bumper crop and you have also created at least two meals! Home Economics at its best!

Happy Gardening!