Homegrown: Sauces
“People who love to eat are always the best people.” Julia Child
Tomato sauces are one of the five “mother” sauces of the culinary world, so they’re kind of a big deal. They’re the perfect use for the last of your fresh summer tomatoes. Bonus: making these will make your kitchen smell so cozy and heavenly. As an Irish girl, I don’t have a secret family recipe from an Italian great-grandmother, but these sauces will have you fooled. Pick some tomatoes, pour a glass of wine, and let's get cookin’!
The Secret’s in the Sauce
Plum tomatoes (e.g. Roma, San Marzanos) are the best tomatoes for sauces. They have fewer seeds than heirloom tomatoes or other varieties. They also have the best flavor and texture when cooked down to a sauce. Cherry tomatoes are great for sauces, too, f you have enough of them. That being said, you can certainly use whatever you have on hand from the garden. Just be sure to remove any excess seeds before cooking.
Most people peel and seed tomatoes so the sauces have a smooth texture and balanced flavor. To do this, place your whole tomatoes in a pot of boiling water until the skins start to split. Remove from the pot and put in a bowl of cold water. Once cool to the touch, peel off the skins and you’re ready to go! I kept the skins on in my recipes for a more rustic (aka lazy) approach and they turned out great.
Don’t limit your tomato sauces to just pasta! I made pasta this week because I was craving all the carbs, but there are so many ways to use your homemade sauces.
Other uses for tomato sauce:
-pizza sauce
-put on sandwiches (e.g. spread on grilled cheese)
-use in chicken dishes (e.g. chicken parmesan)
-serve with eggs
-use to poach seafood
-sauce for mussels/clams
-add to your chili
-soups (e.g. minestrone)
Recipes
Traditional Italian Tomato Sauce (Quick Version)
Your classic, fail-proof, go-to sauce recipe.
Puttanesca Sauce
Busting with flavor, this unique and traditional Neapolitan tomato sauce has an interesting history. Story has it that “ladies of the night” would put this in the window sills of brothels to lure in men. I will say, it brought my husband running into the kitchen!
Creamy Vodka Sauce
Smooth, rich, and utterly delicious. It’s traditionally served with penne pasta, but you’ll want to put this on everything. I definitely didn’t intend for this to look like Halloween pasta, but sometimes things turn out different than we plan. Just go with it and make it work!
These sauces can be stored in the fridge for 1 week, or properly canned and stored for up to 2 years. My favorite method of storing tomato sauce is freezing. Put your sauce in an air-tight container or freezer bag, pop in the freezer, and use within 4 months. Next week we'll be drying and preserving our fresh herbs for a variety of uses all fall and winter long.
-Megan