As in, fresh tomatoes from my Indiana garden need to be turned into Italian goodness.
I have 1.5 pounds of romas, just plucked from the vine. I would like to make a nice all-purpose marinara that can be jazzed up as needed.
Thanks for the recipes!
Really a basic recipe is whatever you want to do. Personally I’d chop the tomatoes, dump them in a cast-iron pot with a ton of garlic, some olive oil, some basil and oregano, a little salt and pepper and cook for a few hours. Then mash the contents or run through a food processor if you want smooth sauce. Embellish to taste.
Sounds easy enough. Do I need to peel the tomatoes? I don’t have cast iron big enough, so I’ll have to use something else.
I like to score the tomatoes on either end and drop them in boiling water for a minute or two. Makes peeling a snap!
FYI, generally the tomatos you grow in your garden are not the same as the ones used in the canning process. They tend to be more watery than the types that are typically canned, and the flavor is different.
I’ve made good sauces with them - don’t get me wrong - but sauces made with fresh tomatos are not going to taste the same as those made with canned.
You will want to peel and seed the tomatos, as both have enough bitterness that it will be noticable in the end product. That’s not as hard as it sounds - I peel them the way Mooch describes, then cut them into 4 quarters. Use your hands to pull out the seeds and mucusy stuff.
After that, I do what silenus posted.
If you want to concentrate the flavor a little more, you can oven-roast the seeded and peeled tomatoes before using them.
I’d skin them first- a good way to do it is to put them in boiling water for about a minute, and then into some cold water. The skins come right off.
I’d also scoop and/or wash out the seeds too.
At that point, I’d just chop them up fairly fine, and put them in a pot with some water, olive oil, garlic, basil, oregano and parsley, then cook them on low heat for a few hours. They’ll kind of disintegrate somewhat- like other posters have said, a food processor or blender (on low!) will do the trick if you want a smoother sauce.
That’s OK, cast iron’s a bitch with acidic foods like tomatoes. It removes the seasoning, so you have to reseason it when you’re done.
**Mooch ** and **bump **are talking about blanching, and it’s really easy. Get a pot of water boiling, and then make a large bowl of ice water. If you like, score the bottom (not the part with the stem) of the tomato with a shallow X, but I never do that for tomatoes that are going to be squished up in sauces anyway. When your water’s boiling, drop a few tomatoes in it for a slow count of 10 (“a minute or two” is way too long for a blanche - the tomato shouldn’t cook at all.) Then scoop the tomatoes out and put them immediately in the ice water. Repeat with the rest of the tomatoes. Now comes to ooey-gooey part. Reach into the ice water and grab a tomato. The skin should slide right off. If they’re stubborn, and little flick of a paring knife will convince them to give up the goods.
(The same can be done with potatoes, by the way. I save myself a good 15 minutes peeling time by blanching and peeling my potatoes and then cutting them for cooking.)
silenus’ basic recipe is good. I’d sautee some chopped onions first, and then add garlic just before I added the tomatoes and oregano. Let that simmer for a while, then add basil at the end. Oregano needs cooking to release its flavor, where basil’s flavor will simmer away, so oregano and basil shouldn’t be added at the same time.
Fresh basil right at the end, if you have it. I generally skip the onions these days because the wife hates them. Depends on what you are going to use the sauce for, really. There are a world of variations here. It cans well, too.
If you do can the marinara, it is important that your tomatoes/sauce are acidic enough to be safely canned. You may want to add a small amount of vinegar to your marinara to bring the pH down to a safe level.
Of course, with a smaller batch like this you could probably get away with forgoing the hot canning process. You could just add the hot marinara to sterile jars, cap it and store it in your refrigerator for up to a few weeks, using as needed. If you do want to put it up, DO NOT USE THIS METHOD, use a full hot (boiling or steaming) canning method.
I like Michael Chiarello’s authentic Passato version of canned tomatoes for sauce. it is very basic and the tomatoes remain versatile. Really, his canned tomatoes would only need an addition of aromatics-- onions, garlic, and oregano to make a killer marinara.
(Though it’s not so common here, I understand carrots are a nice way to give marinara a bit of sweetness and added dimension… could be a secret ingredient you might want to consider.)
devilsknew, that’s my secret! Actually, I use the Trinity - onion, carrot and bell pepper. I also like to add some crushed red pepper flakes when sauteeing the veggies - not enough for an arrabiatta, but just to add a little spice.
Alton Brown makes a tomato sauce that uses fresh romas and is Baked