Tomato Time!

 

One of the best things about late summer is the abundance of ripe, juicy tomatoes...hearty beefsteak tomatoes, regular red tomatoes, roma tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes...love them all! Recently I posted some references to my favorite fresh tomato recipes on my FB page with a promise of providing the recipes soon. Now that my first few weeks of settling into a new school year are past, I'm ready to think about cooking again!

Super Simple Fresh Tomato Marinara

This recipe is from a Kroger store flyer that I got in the mail a few years ago. I've modified it a bit to fit our taste, so I've included my changes along with the original recipe.

Ingredients:
  4 cloves of garlic, minced (modify to taste...if the cloves are large, I use only 2)
  1/4 cup onion or shallots, minced (I use more, about 1/2 cup, because we like onions! Sometimes I use a combination of white, red, and green tail onions for variety. Frozen onion are fine, too.)
  1/4 cup olive oil
  15-20 medium size, very ripe tomatoes, seeded and chopped (Seeded?? Really?? Feel free to skip this step, as I do. I also chop the tomatoes and put them in a large bowl to sit for awhile before putting them in the pan. Drain out some of the excess liquid if you want your marinara to be thicker.)
  1 bunch fresh basil, chopped (Now that's vague! How big is the bunch? I use fresh basil from my herb garden, and chop about 15-20 large leaves, more if the leaves are small.)
  Salt and pepper to taste (I use sea salt and freshly ground pepper for more flavor with less salt.)

That's it for the original recipe, but I add two other ingredients:
  1/8 tsp. red pepper flakes to add a little heat (My mom used to do this with her sauce and my husband still comments on it to this day. Adjust accordingly...a little goes a long way!)
  20-30 chopped oregano leaves from my herb garden (These leaves are very small, so you need more of them to get the flavor.)

Cooking directions:
Saute onions and garlic in 2 tbsp. olive oil, just until softened. Add tomatoes, spices, and the remaining olive oil. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 2-4 hours. Leave the cover off the final hour to evaporate some of the excess liquid if you like. Serve over pasta or freeze for future use. Makes plenty to do both!

 

Enjoy! Come back tomorrow for my recipe for Bacon-Cheddar-Tomato Biscuits!