Have you ever cooked a HUGE bunch of fresh spinach, only to end up with practically nothing? Well yesterday, I decided to make tomato sauce with the organic Roma tomatoes that I grew in my garden over the summer.
I had picked them at the peak of ripeness and frozen them whole. These giant marbles (as they become when frozen hard) take up ALOT of room in the freezer! I am always trying to clean OUT my freezer, so it was great to get them out of there.
I had 3 gallon-sized bags that I let thaw out in the sink. I then rinsed them, because some I had washed and some I hadn’t and I could no longer tell which was which. I also removed any stems that were remaining.
I then put the whole tomatoes in my Vitamix, in batches, processing them until I could no longer see stems or skins. I added some fresh garlic, and dried oregano, basil and summer savory (also all from my garden) while it was still spinning and then poured the mixture into one of my large All-Clad saucepans to cook, along with the addition of some red wine.
This simmered on the stove all day, lending an enticing aroma to my house and I’m sure, torturing all who entered- customers, visitors and family members. To me, it smells like the precursor to my favorite meal growing up- mashed potatoes with meatballs and peas in tomato sauce. Even if this may SOUND weird, I guarantee it is scrumptious! (Recipe to follow at a later date.)
At the end of the day, I cooked up some Italian sausage along with some organic spinach and cheese ravioli, and with the addition of some leftover alfredo sauce, my daughter and I had a quick, tasty, satisfying meal. I’m telling you, the combination of the red and white sauces is one of those taste sensations!
Please note: If it hadn’t been for the fact that, for our meal, we added the alfredo sauce that contained alot of fat, I would have added some organic olive oil (OEVOO) to the tomato sauce at the end, before serving. This addition of fat helps with the absorption and utilization of nutrients and contributes a wonderful flavor. I suppose you could just add it at the beginning of cooking as well, but I have REALLY good olive oil and didn’t want it to cook so long!
So back to my original statement- tomatoes are like spinach…the surprising thing about this was that ALL of those tomatoes cooked down to about 2 quarts of sauce. After using generous portions for 2 people for dinner, I had one quart and one pint of sauce to freeze.
The worst thing is that, after I had it ALL cleaned up and was searching for a spot in the freezer to store the leftovers, I discovered one more gallon bag of tomatoes in my freezer. So I start the whole thing over today!
