Homemade Tomato Sauce

     
My love for the farmers market runs deep. I go at least once a week and purchase way more than I need. I know food waste is a very real issue in this country so I try not to do overdue it. That being said cooking a meal from scratch at the end of a long day (when you can walk outside to get anything your stomach desires way faster) is sometimes a hard value to adhere to. I more often than not end up tossing half the fruit and veggies I get as they are organic and don’t last long enough for me to get over the sheer inconvenience of planning a meal around them. Being aware of my previous habits I now make a conscious effort to buy only one or two items on my excursions. This past Sunday I got about two pounds of heirloom tomatoes. I must have at some point been too rough with them as after I left the market I noticed one had split, as if it had been dropped on the ground or smushed somehow. Against popular San Franciscan practices, as well as I guess technically the law, I received my purchase in a plastic bag. This acted as an accelerant in the decomposition process initiated by the single rotting tomato.

I had a crazy day that Sunday, lots of projects and social engagements to get through so my farmer’s market haul ended up in a friend’s fridge. I knew left alone they would all turn within a day but chilling them bought me an additional 24 hours to figure out a game plan. The next day was Labor Day, having chosen to stay in town I didn’t have much going on. I had work to get done but I also knew I had to cook to avoid throwing the fruit away. I figured I’d pull my best superwoman domestic routine and do both my chores and my work simultaneously. I remembered something the woman had said to me at the stall I purchased the tomatoes from. They had an entire basket of “sauce tomatoes” that I assumed were there due to their physical imperfections. I moved on to the regular beautiful tomatoes and commented on how I had no idea how to make sauce, the only thing that came to mind was throwing them all in a pot with whatever else you fancy and hoping for the best. Her response, “see you know how to make sauce inherently you just didn’t realize it”.
That comment bubbled to the forefront of my mind. I love cooking, truly I do, I find it's methodical nature comforting. In this instance, however, I had no time to give a meal creation attempt it’s proper due. I decided to take the Vendor’s advice and try my hand at my own sauce. I briefly googled ideas but upon reading the first one I realized I didn’t care to imitate anyone else’s recipe. I would go the bare bones basic route, use my intuition and see how it came out.
 I cut up the tomatoes, saving their juices then placed both in a large pot set to medium heat. Thinking the small amount of liquids provided by the original dicing wouldn’t be enough to keep the tomatoes from sticking I added a bit of olive oil. This is something you should leave out. If you end up adding the amount of veggies I did the water within them boils down enough to provide a barrier between the veggies and the pot. This made the end result much more watery than I had anticipated, something that was slightly alleviated by adding a few teaspoons of flour. Aside from the tomatoes I decided to add things I like; onions, garlic, spices, bell peppers, mushrooms, herbs, and (hear me out) applewood smoked bacon pieces. I let this mix simmer for about and hour and what resulted was one of the best sauces I’ve ever tasted. It didn’t coat the pasta visually like a traditional bottled sauce would but it definitely still managed to saturate the noodles in the most impressive way.
I am a hearty meat eater. If a meal doesn’t include meat I don’t feel satiated. I originally tried to add tiger prawns to the end product but with a red sauce it wasn’t the best combo. I avoided them and the meal ended up being one of the few I didn’t lament the absence of animal protein.* Another testament to my craft.

                                       

I’ll include the portions I went with for this meal, but I think any variation of this combo would have great results. This generated a large amount of sauce, probably enough to feed six in one sitting.

I used the following items:
6 heirloom tomatoes
3 onions; one red, two yellow
⅓ cup of garlic ( I’m obsessed so add more or less based on your preference)
2 green bell peppers
1 red bell pepper
3/4th a carton of crimini mushrooms
Italian seasoning (I used a premixed variety from a McCormick grinder)
A pinch of rosemary
A pinch of thyme
Paprika
Red ground pepper
Salt and pepper
3 strips of thick cut applewood bacon (sourced from the Safeway butcher) layered and cut into small pieces (* the meal technically wasn’t completely meat free)
Half a box of pasta

All fruits and veggies were diced for this meal. All seasoning was administered according to ancestral vibes.
I threw the tomatoes in first then added the rest as they were cut.
You can use what pasta tickles your pickle. I used linguine which is typically reserved for white sauces or pesto.

The end result was a success. The sauce was phenomenal. By the time I was done it was late and I wasn’t as hungry. I had a small amount and stored the extra in mason jars and froze them for future use. This would have been great with Italian sausage or some ground beef.

For some people cooking is a gift, and for others a chore. But I firmly believe everyone is capable of it if they have enough interest. Good luck following your gut! It’ll take you marvelous places.