Every summer our neighbor very kindly gives us the most amazing, robust garden fresh tomatoes and they are honestly better than anything I’ve had from a grocery store. After a few bags of tomatoes we quickly realized we had more than we could possibly handle for own soups, salaans, and salads so I decided to make some Homemade Tomato Sauce! And so, this recipe was born. And it was absolutely delicious but I very quickly realized the taste had more to do with the garden fresh tomatoes than any skills I possessed so I implore you to find your best tomatoes when you make this. You won’t regret it!
This year, I very fortunately got to add in some of my own tomatoes from my 2020 quarantine garden which I’m sure I’m not the only one to have started gardening with all the free time we had. It was pretty nice to bring something from my own garden to the table. So if you have a bunch of tomatoes lying around why not try making this sweet, tangy, and hearty tomato sauce that’s perfect on pasta or pizza. Now, let’s get started with the recipe, shall we?
Ingredients:
- 28-30 oz. Heirloom or Roma tomatoes, whole
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 small onion, diced
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 teaspoon fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt, to taste
- 2 teaspoon fresh basil, chopped (optional)
Directions:
Here’s a fun hack to peel your tomatoes. Well I guess it’s more like a technique than a hack, but anyways it is quite helpful. Start by washing all your wonderfully fresh garden tomatoes. Remove all the stems and leaves then cut a shallow cross on the bottom of each tomato. In a large pot fill enough water to submerge all the tomatoes and bring this to a simmer on medium to high heat. Place all the tomatoes in and allow it to simmer for 10 minutes.
Once the 10 minutes are up remove the tomatoes with a slotted spoon into a large bowl. Wait a few minutes to allow tomatoes to cool enough to handle, Now you can peel! Here’s the fun part(well, fun is being a bit generous, it is interesting though)—place the tomato cross side up and you’ll notice the skin already starting to peel off. Simply use your finger to pull all the sections down then flip the tomato over and finish peeling up to the top. They should peel with little to no resistance! Do this to the rest of the tomatoes.
Once your tomatoes are all peeled, using a small pairing knife carefully remove the small core on top. Then give each tomato a rough chop then place them back in the bowl.
At this point you can start cooking the sauce by beginning the base. Dice the onion and in the same large pot (drained of water and dried) add olive oil and bring to heat on medium to low. Add in your onion and cook down for a few minutes until translucent then add in the minced garlic.
Now that the onions are translucent and mixed with garlic add in all the chopped tomato. Give it a quick mix then cover and allow to cook down on medium to low heat for 40-45 minutes.
Once the tomatoes have cooked down thoroughly, turn the heat off and blend the mixture with a hand blender until completely smooth. Once it is smooth you may cook down for 10-15 more minutes to thicken to your liking. Once you are satisfied with consistency add in fresh parsley, fresh basil, oregano, and salt to taste. Make sure to taste to see if salt is to your liking. Then you are done!
Feel free to serve immediately on top of some pasta or with meatballs. It can also be stored in fridge and stay fresh for up to 3 days or you can store in freezer for up to 4 months. Don’t forget to enjoy!
Homemade Tomato Sauce
Equipment
- Hand Immersion Blender
Ingredients
- 28-30 oz. fresh whole tomatoes (heirloom, tomatoes on the vine, etc)
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon of dried oregano
- 2 teaspoon fresh parsley, chopped
- salt, to taste
- 2 teaspoons fresh basil, chopped (optional)
Instructions
- Start by weighing out your tomatoes and get as close to 28 oz. as you can
- Cut a shallow cross in the bottom of each whole tomato
- In a large pot on medium-high heat simmer enough water to fully submerge tomatoes
- Place tomatoes in simmering water. Allow to simmer for about 10 minutes or until tomatoes are soft
- Once soft, remove tomatoes from water with slotted spoon and place into clean bowl
- Allow to cool for 5 minutes then carefully peel skin back from flesh of tomato. It should slip off easily if you start from the cross cut on the bottom. Discard skins
- Remove the small core then roughly chop the peeled tomatoes and place back in bowl
- Finely chop the onion and mince garlic
- In the same pot used before, drain water, dry, and then heat up olive oil on medium heat
- Add in onions and allow to sauté until translucent then add in minced garlic and mix together thoroughly.
- Add chopped tomatoes and juices into pot and cover pot. Allow to cook down for about 40-45 minutes on medium-low heat
- Once cooked down blend with hand-blender and then add in 3-4 shakes of dried oregano, fresh chopped parsley, basil, and salt, to taste.
- Serve on pasta, with meatballs, or on pizza
- Enjoy!
Notes:
- Tomato sauce will stay fresh for up to 3 days in refrigerator
- Definitely, feel free to scale recipe up or down for your needs and extra can be stored in freezer
- Can be frozen for up to 3-4 months
If you want to stay up-to-date on all Mostly Masala recipes then sign up for the newsletters below! Recipes will be sent straight to your inbox 📩
If you tried out a recipe and enjoyed feel free to leave a review and comment down below. I would love to hear what you thought ✨