Homemade Fresh Tomato Sauce
Delicious Homemade Fresh Tomato Sauce, just a few ingredients makes this fast and easy sauce the perfect way to use up some Summer Tomatoes.
- 5-8 very ripe tomatoes
- 1-2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 - 1½ teaspoons oregano
- ¼-½ teaspoon salt
- 6-8 leaves fresh basil chopped
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1-2 dashes hot pepper flakes if desired
- 3-4 cups cooked pasta (1½ - 2 cups dry pasta)
- Wash tomatoes and place in a large bowl, cover with boiling water and let sit for approximately 10 minutes (should be easy to remove the skin, be careful because it is very hot). Remove skin and squeeze out excess water, remove seeds and any white or yellow flesh, cut into small pieces.
- In a medium-sized high sided frying pan add olive oil, tomatoes, garlic, oregano, salt, fresh chopped basil leaves and hot pepper flakes if desired .
- Mix together and then squish gently with a fork, cook uncovered on medium heat till thickened,(while the sauce is cooking occasionally gently squish with a wooden spoon or fork). Simmer for approximately 20 - 25 minutes.
- While sauce is cooking boil the water, add salt and cook pasta al dente.
- Add 3 cups of cooked short pasta and ½ ladle of pasta water, heat on medium/high heat for a couple of minutes gently tossing. Serve immediately with freshly grated Parmesan Cheese. Enjoy!
For most people August is the season of vacations and getting the kids ready for going back to school, for me August is also tomato season. Well it was the season of tomatoes for the past 25 years.
Unfortunately my mother-in-law is no longer capable so it’s everyone on their own. Even though I don’t make the bottles like we used to, I still like to make a tasty Fresh Tomato Sauce during the summer.
Recipe Ingredients
- Tomatoes – ripe
- Garlic – minced
- Oregano
- Salt
- Basil – fresh leaves
- Olive oil
- Hot pepper flakes – optional
- Pasta –
How Italians make Fresh Tomato Sauce Recipe
This is the time of the year we would focus mainly on picking and boiling tomatoes to make a delicious sauce that I then usually use for my pasta dishes. We would sit around a huge pot of boiling water filled with tomatoes.
We would then peel, squish and squeeze those tomatoes into as many bottles as we can fill, Cap them and then boil the bottles in a huge metal barrel over a wood burning fire.
These will last over the winter until the next August. When I have too many ripe tomatoes I make a homemade fast version the way we used to make sauce.
This way uses approximately 10 ripe tomatoes and is plenty enough to feed 3-4 people for lunch or dinner!
How to make Fresh Tomato Sauce
Wash the tomatoes and place them in a large bowl, cover the tomatoes with boiling water and let them sit for approximately 10 minutes (it should be easy to remove the skin, but be careful it’s hot) I hold the tomato with a fork in one hand and with a knife in the other I remove the skin.
Be sure to squeeze out excess water and remove the seeds and any white flesh, Cut the cleaned tomatoes into small pieces place in a medium to large pan with extra-virgin olive oil. Add the spices, squish the tomatoes with a fork and then simmer on low medium until thickened.
Toss with cooked al dente pasta and serve sprinkled with some freshly grated Parmigiano.
Fresh Herbs to add
The good thing is that, when making this sauce you can use all the fresh herbs available at this time of year too, fresh basil leaves, oregano and garlic are all perfect choices.
Or even dried oregano or basil would work, or how about a dash or two of red pepper flakes? You could also add some other fresh vegetables, such as sliced or chopped red peppers, onions, mushrooms or even some chopped carrots if you like. What are the best tomatoes to use?
The best tomatoes to use or the ones we always used for sauce are San Marzano or plum tomatoes known as Roma tomatoes in Italy. Roma tomatoes are meatier with less water content and an outstanding taste, which makes them perfect.
San Marzano also have more flesh, they have less seeds with a stronger, sweeter and less acidic taste. Both are great choices, or combine them together.
