Food

How to Make Kick-Ass Pasta Sauce from Fresh Tomatoes

You’ll never want to open a jar again

Photo by Deva Darshan on Unsplash

It’s tomato season! If you’ve been growing your own, you’re probably up to your neck in them by now. If you’re not, there are plenty available at farm stands and farmer’s markets. (Supermarkets, too, of course, but try to buy ones grown nearby.) This is the recipe I use to make my basic tomato sauce. I make batches throughout the season that I freeze in old pint-sized ice cream containers or plastic bags.

When I’m ready to make pasta, I thaw one of the containers of sauce, add some browned ground beef, meatballs, or sausages, maybe a little wine, and throw it in the slow cooker for an hour or so. If you don’t want to add anything, that’s fine too.

For pizza, boil the sauce down first until it’s a bit thicker. Keep an eye on it, though!

Directions:

Tip: If you don’t have enough ripe tomatoes all at once, just wash, core, and stash them in bags in your freezer until you accumulate enough for a batch. When you’re ready to make the sauce, let the tomatoes thaw partially so that they’re easier to cut in half.

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
2. Core and cut in half about 6 lbs. of tomatoes. Don’t remove the…