Tomato Sauce
I am a hungarian girl, married to an italian boy. He loves homemade pasta sauce, but unfortunately his mother passed away before I could get her recipe. I have about 15 lbs of fresh jersey tomatoes, all different types, and no clue where to start. We like a sweet sauce, with a bit of a spicy kick. I hate watery sauces, like them good, and thick. I have plenty of time to prepare it right, but alas I have no food mill (I don't even know what one is). I do have a food processor, and a desire to learn. There are a million on the web, but would like some personal suggestions. Thanks so much.
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I have a process very similar to eLizard's with a few variations. When I seed the tomatoes, I put the seeds and the surrounding pulp into a mesh strainer (or you can use cheese cloth), let the tomato water drain away from the seeds and then pour this water in with the tomatoes and some white wine after sweating the garlic and onions. I also like to add just a little bit of sweet smoked paprika, which I think adds a nice dimension. I also like to add a touch of butter at the very end, which adds a lovely richness to the sauce. This is absolutely my favorite thing to make this time of year!
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eLizard
Sep 15, 2008 08:26 AM
I made sauce last week from 10 lbs of home grown tomatoes. without a food mill. I cut an "x" in the bottom of each 'mater and blanched them for 30 seconds. I slipped the skins off, seeded the tomatoes and then roughly chopped them. It was a bit time consuming. Probably took a half an hour, but it wasn't hard at all. I sweated some garlic and onions is a pot, added the tomatoes with some salt, pepper and hot pepper flakes (i added a lot). and then I let it simmer for 2 hours (sometimes I add some tomato paste, sometimes I don't). I buzzed it up with my stick blender, but a regular blender or food processor in batches would work. I ate some, and then froze the rest. it was delicious. exactly as you described. sweet, thick, and with a kick. I think that if i added some chicken stock and a swirl of cream, that it would have made a lovely soup.
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