Messes and Successes

Have I told you already that we have lots of tomatoes? Yeah, 5 plants between two people is kind of a bad idea unless you're the type of couple that eats it for breakfast, lunch and dinner! So, Saturday, we opted for some homemade tomato sauce (or as we like to call it, sketti). One of the fun things about trying homemade recipes are the successes that overshadow the failures.

Last week, in yet another desperate attempt to use our massive amounts of tomatoes, I made pizza sauce and dough and had a pretty delicious meal going on the grill, until we took it off and set it on layers of towels - the bottom of the crust immediately started smoking and as soon as I *looked* at the pizza. Then, the pizza stone cracked right down the center. I was really excited to post the recipe for all the makings of that meal - almost everything was from the garden or leftovers that we threw together but of course I wasn't about to share pictures of charred crust!

But today's recipe was delicious and I'm excited to share it! Even husband enjoyed it, and he rarely wants to eat sketti! I didn't have celery or carrots, so I imagine it would taste even better with those missing ingredients. Oh yeah, and I added ground beef, that we ground using our new kitchenaid mixer!
Ok, so the picture is not great, but the sauce really was good!

Homemade Tomato Sauce
recipe from here

2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 small carrot or 1/2 large carrot, finely chopped (I ommited)
1 small stalk of celery, including the green tops, finely chopped (I ommited)
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried basil or 2 Tbsp chopped fresh basil (I used fresh)
1 28 oz. can whole tomatoes, including the juice, or 1 3/4 pound of fresh tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped (I used fresh)
1 teaspoon tomato paste (I used about 3 tsp.)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Heat olive oil in a large wide skillet on medium heat. Add the chopped onion, carrot, celery and parsley. Stir to coat. Reduce the heat to low, cover the skillet and cook for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally until the vegetables are softened and cooked through.

2. Remove cover and add the minced garlic. Increase the heat to medium high. Cook for garlic for 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes, including the juice and shredding them with your fingers if you are using canned whole tomatoes. Add the tomato paste and the basil. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a low simmer, reduce the heat to low and cook, uncovered until thickened, about 15 minutes. If you want you can push the sauce through a food mill to give it a smooth consistency.