The sauce I make every Fall, and why I bother.
Every fall, when the garden tomatoes come in faster than anyone can eat them, I spend an evening in my kitchen making sauce. This year I filmed it, because patients ask me about it every year.
It is not a complicated recipe. That is the point.
Have you ever read the jar on the shelf?
Pick up a jar of sauce at the grocery store and read the label. Tomatoes, yes. Then a list that often includes sugar, sometimes more than one kind, and a few ingredients you would not keep in your own pantry.
When you make your own, you know exactly what goes in: tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, basil and a little salt. Five things. Nothing added to make it last longer on a shelf, nothing added to make it taste sweeter than a ripe tomato already is.
I am not going to tell you a jar of sauce is going to change your health. I am going to tell you that the small, ordinary choices add up, and this is one of the easy ones. It costs you one evening, and you get a freezer full of sauce for the winter.
What you need
These amounts make about six quart jars.
- About 20 ripe tomatoes, washed and rough chopped into big chunks
- About 7 cloves of garlic, rough chopped (add more if you like garlic)
- A big bunch of fresh basil, leaves left whole
- About 3 tablespoons of olive oil or avocado oil, enough to coat the bottom of the pot
- Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
A note on the tomatoes: mine came from a friend's garden, and I left them in big chunks on purpose. I like a sauce with texture. If you prefer it smooth, chop smaller or run it through a blender at the end.
How to make it
- Warm the oil. Put a large pot over medium heat and add enough oil to coat the bottom.
- Cook the garlic. Add the garlic and stir it around until it just starts to turn a light golden brown. Watch it closely. Burnt garlic turns the whole pot bitter.
- Add the tomatoes. Pour in all the tomatoes along with a handful of basil leaves. Stir, cover, and let it cook down for about 15 minutes.
- Add the rest of the basil. Whole leaves, straight in. I do not chop them! Season with salt and pepper.
- Simmer. Leave it uncovered and let it cook another 20 to 30 minutes, stirring now and then, until the tomatoes have broken down and the kitchen smells like a tomato garden.
- Cool and jar. Let the sauce cool, then ladle it into clean jars.
How to store it
- Refrigerator: 3 to 5 days.
- Freezer: all winter. Leave about an inch of space at the top of each jar so the glass does not crack as the sauce freezes.
How I use it
This is the part I look forward to. In the middle of winter, opening one of these jars smells like fall in the garden.
- As the base for minestrone or beef stew
- Reduced down a little, with shrimp and scallops, over spaghetti squash
- Over regular spaghetti for the kids, who do not need convincing
Make it for your family
If you try it, let me know how it turns out. And if you end up with more than you can use, that is what the freezer is for. It will last the whole season.
To your health,
Dr. Kelly Cao
Healing Hands, Worcester