Basic Tomato Sauce Recipe

Name: Basic Tomato Sauce
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 60 min
Total time: 70 min
Ingredients: 1 Tbs. of olive oil; 1/2 onion coarsely chopped; 2 garlic cloves; 2 pounds of ripe tomatoes (peeled, seeded and chopped); 1 sprig of fresh thyme; 1 sprig of rosemary; 4 basil leaves; Coarse sea salt

Basic Tomato Sauce.

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This tomato sauce is a staple in my kitchen. It’s a simple yet flavorful sauce, perfect for Italian recipes such as pizza, penne alla vodka and meatballs, to name only the first three recipes coming to mind.

For a smoother sauce I peel and seed the tomatoes. Here, you can see how. This extra job it’s worth every second of your time. If you want to skip this step, you can finely strain the sauce once it’s cooked and blended.

I season this sauce with fresh basil, rosemary and thyme but it can be seasoned with dried herbs too. A tablespoon of the three dried herbs combined would be enough. You can also substitute with dried oregano.

The recipe below makes three cups. You can use it immediately, save it up to a week in the refrigerator or freeze it up to a year.

As a result of our fabulous tomato crop this year (190 pounds and counting,) during the last three weeks I have multiplied the quantities and have been canning this sauce to preserve the color and flavor of the tomatoes during the next couple of months.

If you are in the mood for canning, after the recipe you will find easy steps to follow. I personally like to can this sauce in 6 ounce jars because this is the exact amount I use to make two medium pizzas. I also can it in very convenient 1 pint jars.

I hope you like my recipe!

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Basic Tomato Sauce

Prep Time10 mins

Cook Time1 hr

Total Time1 hr 10 mins

Servings: cups

Ingredients

1 Tbs. of olive oil
1/2 onion coarsely chopped
2 garlic cloves
2 pounds of ripe tomatoes peeled, seeded and chopped
1 sprig of fresh thyme
1 sprig of rosemary
4 basil leaves
Coarse sea salt

Instructions

In a deep sauce pan on medium heat, sauté the onion and garlic in olive oil, until transparent, about 5 minutes.
Add the tomatoes and salt to taste.
Let it boil for 5 minutes and then lower the heat.
Add the herbs and let simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes.
Discard the herbs.
Blend the sauce with an immersion blender.
If you don’t have an immersion blender, let the sauce cool down and process it in a conventional blender.
Pour the sauce in sterilized jars. Make sure to leave ½ -inch headspace and that there is no food or juice in the headspace (food particles may interfere with sealing). Cap the jars for processing by fitting a screw band snugly over the jar rim and lid.
Fill a water bath canner halfway with water. Place the jars in the rack. Make sure the water covers the jars at least by 1 inch. Cover the canner and bring the water to boil. Once the water starts boiling, process for 20 minutes (6 ounces jars) or 30 minutes (1 pint jars).
Place the processed jars on kitchen towels. Let them rest until they cool down. The lids will pop and become concave, indicating the jars are sealed. If the lid doesn’t pop and doesn’t look concave, reprocess the jar with a new lid or refrigerate and eat in the next few days.