Homemade Diced Tomatoes or Tomato Sauce

 

After years of painstaking tomato sauce preparation (blanching, peeling off skin, running through tomato sieve, etc.), we came up with a quick, easy tomato sauce method.  I am all for the quick and easy, yet delicious, recipes.  This tastes great and I use it to make spaghetti and tortilla soup, burritos, and any other recipe which calls for diced tomatoes.  Puree it finer initially if you want more of a tomato sauce texture.

Each year something does spectacular in the garden and with our cool summer, this year it is tomatoes.  After two late freezes and losing half my tomato plants, the five plants that survived are doing great.  With all the extra tomatoes, we have made a few pots of tomato sauce.  I photographed the last batch so I could share our method with you.  I included large red tomatoes, medium blush-colored tomatoes, and small yellow pear tomatoes in this batch of sauce.

Ingredients:

A large batch of garden fresh tomatoes, any kind

~ 2 Tbl extra virgin olive oil

~ 1/2 yellow onion, diced

~ 3 cloves of fresh garlic, minced

1 tsp honey (essential)

1 - 1 1/2 tsp sea salt

1 tsp dry basil (or you can add fresh at the end)

1 tsp Italian seasoning

1/2 tsp oregano

 

Method:

 

 

Cut out tops of fresh tomatoes and then cut into chunks.  Don't worry about removing the skin or seeds.  If you don't have your own tomatoes, look from some at a farmer's market.  Toss chunks in small batches into your food processor.  I fill it about half way, as shown.  If I put too much in at once, it leaks out all over the place.  Then process as shown above (I like it to be a chunky sauce).

Heat olive oil over medium heat in a heavy soup pot (I use my glass pot that I make broth in).  Add diced onion and garlic (and any other fresh veggies you might want to include) and sauté.  Reduce heat to low and add your processed tomatoes, batch by batch.  Add spices and honey.  Something sweet is needed to cut the acidity of the tomatoes, which is why tomato sauce you buy lists sugar as an ingredient on the label.  I don't keep any sugar in my house, so I use a bit of honey instead.  Simmer, uncovered, on low until sauce thickens (this big pot simmered for about 12 hours).  This batch just barely fit in my pot!  I watched it closely at first to make sure it didn't boil over.

I stir it occasionally and slow cook it down until it is about half the original volume.  Next I cool it on the stove and then place it in a glass bowl in the refrigerator.  Once it is refrigerator temperature, I dish it into plastic Tupperware type containers and store it in the freezer until I'm ready to use it.  (Do not place hot foods directly into plastic containers.)

 



This is such an easy, quick method.  You can also make spaghetti sauce by adding more ingredients such as basil, peppers, mushrooms or any ingredients you or your family enjoy. 

Tomatoes are easy to grow, and also do well in containers on a patio if you don't have yard space for a garden.  If you don't have homegrown tomatoes this year, you might consider starting a plant or two next spring.