Fresh Tomato Sauce – Back to Basics

[lead]Sometimes it’s so easy to get caught up in all the healthy trends out there that we can get away from the basics. This new Back to Basics series is designed to take things old school and focus on learning a new “classic” recipe or dish.[/lead]

My first Back to Basics post stems from my desire to use up the tomatoes in my garden and create a sauce that I can make ahead of time and freeze for later use. Fresh Tomato Sauce is so versatile. It can be made into to spaghetti, baked chicken, soup, as pizza sauce, and even eggs. It stores well in the freezer and defrosts quickly for a last minute meal. I also love the fact that making it at home means you can control the ingredients you put into it, since a lot of store bought brands contain sugar and extra preservatives.

I’ve posted a lot of tomato dishes on the blog lately because we have So. Many. Tomatoes. I think my husband planted about 15 tomato plants this year! No joke. We have tomatoes coming out of our ears. Which is fine by me. My kids and I can just eat a tomato straight off the vine and think we are in heaven.

As luck would have it, my sister-in-law (Hi Michelle!!) just shared an easy and delicious recipe for a homemade butter tomato sauce with me. Yes, you read that right, BUTTER! I knew I had to try it since I like to joke that butter is my favorite food. Who doesn’t love butter? Since I had a plethora of tomatoes laying around, I decided to give it a try. I have attempted to make fresh tomato sauce from scratch once and it did not go that well. That recipe was very detailed and after all the work I put into it, I honestly thought it didn’t taste all that better than a jar of sauce from the store.

However, this Butter Tomato Sauce recipe from Marcella Hazan is fantastic! So simple and just comes out so flavorful and classic tasting. The kids loved it and I couldn’t make it fast enough for them. I made a double batch thinking I could save a portion of it in the freezer but they ate it all!

Just 3 ingredients: tomatoes, onion, butter

The sauce itself is so simple to make and doesn’t take too much prep. The recipe calls for canned tomatoes, but I used fresh ones. I scored them on the bottom with an “x” and threw them in boiling water for about 2 minutes. Then I threw them straight into an ice bath for a minute and peeled the skin off. Into the sauce pot they went with 2 halves of an onions and butter. It only takes about 45 minutes to cook the sauce, and I seasoned with a bit of salt along the way for flavor.

I’m definitely going to be making a big batch as we get near the end of our tomato season to store in the freezer.

Recipe found here: Marcella Hazan’s Tomato Sauce

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Send me your ideas for upcoming “back to basics” recipes you’d like to see!