TOMATOES, TOMATOES, TOMATOES!!
Holy buckets have we had an abundance of them.
Our tomato plants went wild.
Wild.
In our garden, we had:
11 Roma plants
3 Beefsteak plants
4 Big Beef plants
&
2 Pink Brandywine plants
I have never seen anything like it.
THERE WERE SO MANY!
Between homemade pasta sauce, canned tomatoes and salsa, I put up ~160 pounds of tomatoes this year.
The last two harvests we have done, we passed on to family.
This girl was DONE!
Which is why I'm bringing you this incredibly delectable garden pasta sauce.
Trying to use those suckers up, ya know!?
Ok, let's be real.
I also had an overabundance of peppers.
We planted six plants and they went wild too.
I have 3 gallons of peppers in my freezer.
Man is "life" cool.
It blows my damn mind how we can plant one tiny ass seed and a few months later eat the fruits of its labor.
MIND. BLOWN.
While this pasta sauce does for some reason feel almost magical because it came from the garden that I planted, tended to, talked to, watered, cared for and showed abundant amounts of love to...
you can most definitely buy these items at the grocery store and do the same thing.
I will promise you one thing.
The flavor of this sauce will beat anything you buy in a jar.
It takes minimal effort, but quite a bit of time between steps.
A type of meal for a slow day at home.
But I promise you it is worth it.
& it does not need watched over so you can go about doing other things around the house.
Let's hit it.
PDF recipe file 👇🏼
INGREDIENTS
2 red peppers
5 pounds of tomatoes (approx)
2 T olive oil
1 small onion, diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
1.5 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon parsley
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper, optional
fresh sliced parmesan, for garnish, optional
fresh parsley or basil, for garnish
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 425° and slice your red peppers in half, removing the seeds and stems.
Place your roasted red peppers and tomatoes on a baking sheet and roast in the oven for 25 minutes. While they are roasting, dice and mince your onion and garlic.
Remove from oven and let cool ~30 minutes, or until they are cool enough for you to handle. Once they are cool, peel away the skins of the tomatoes and remove the core. (You can peel the skin off the peppers if you wish; I do not). Dice your red peppers.
To a large dutch oven, add olive oil. Once it shimmers, add the onion and sauté for 5-8 minutes. Add garlic and sauté for 30-45 seconds.
Add your tomatoes and red peppers to the dutch oven and bring to a boil. Once it comes to a boil, reduce to a simmer and place the lid on. Let simmer for 2 hours, stirring every 20-30 minutes.
After 2 hours, transfer half of the sauce to a blender and blend (optional step) and pour back into dutch oven. Mix. Simmer for another 20 minutes.
Serve over cooked pasta with your choice of fresh toppings.
NOTES
- To core your tomatoes, use a paring knife to cut a circle around the stem end, removing the core.
- This is a great sauce to double or triple batch and freeze. Will keep for six months and can be easily defrosted in a bowl of warm water before warming on the stove for a quick dinner.
- I like to blend half the sauce because it leaves some chunky bits. Feel free to leave it all chunky or blend it all.
- I love roasting the tomatoes because it gives the tomatoes a nice depth of flavor. But if you are a boiling type of human, you do you.
xoxo
Kirsten ☀️