Happiness is the first red tomato in the garden. Usually I'm quite the scout this time of year, but our spunky 5 year old was the first to spot our ripe tomatoes this year. Just a small batch of cherry tomatoes, but I do thoroughly enjoy seeing the kids eat their weight in vegetables during the summertime thanks to the excitement that "we grew this!" Those cherry tomatoes were no exception.
With tomato season rapidly approaching, it's time to get my ducks in a row in how I will be using up all our delicious produce! My Simple Basil Marinara is one of my favorite ways to do so. It's light, fresh and tangy thanks to the balsamic vinegar and addition of lots of fresh basil. It makes quite a bit too at a fraction of the cost of a high-quality sauce from the grocery store and it will make a minimum of 2 of those jars :). Win/Win!
The first year we had our garden, I had no idea how many tomatoes a tomato plant can produce. Especially with good light, solid soil and frequent waterings. I planted 14 tomato plants. We produced buckets and buckets and buckets of tomatoes. We lost track of how much they all weighed, but in total, we grew 200+ lbs of tomatoes. I won't make that mistake again LOL! I quickly taught myself how to can marinara, and spent most days with a large stock pot of marinara simmering down so I could can it. The good news is, we had fresh marinara through the winter and spring the following year even with giving a fair amount away.
The difference between this batch and the canning batches, is that I need to add a small amount of sugar to the sauce to balance the PH so that the marinara is safe to be canned (otherwise it can cause botulism). I love the canned sauce, but I love fresh sauce without sugar more.
This is one of my go-to sauces I make when we have a busy week and have pasta on the agenda, or I've ran out of my canned goods and forgot to buy my favorite at the grocery store. It's simple, light, only takes about an hour of simmering away on the stove and you can keep it chunky or blend it up (I use a stick blender) or you can process it through a blender as well. My Vitamix is great for this as well! The pop of acidity from the balsamic and the freshness of the tomatoes and basil really lightens up the flavor!
With this recipe, I find you can use quite a few different types of tomatoes, but would avoid any Beefsteak Tomatoes as they tend to be extra juicy, and seedy, sometimes lending itself to a runnier sauce that doesn't stick properly to your noodles. Also, I make my sauce without de-seeding my tomatoes. I realize it's untraditional, but also, you really can't tell the difference.
How to Make Simple Basil Marinara:
Start with your fresh ingredients! Tomatoes, sweet white onions (Vidalia are my favorite), fresh Garlic, fresh Basil...get everything cleaned and chopped up.
Olive oil and garlic goes into the pan, then add in your onions and give it a quick stir. Let this cook for a bit so that the onions cook down and are translucent.
Next add in your tomatoes just to give them a head start in breaking down a bit. I don't mind chunky tomato sauce, but these were a little bit larger vine-ripened tomatoes that I used and didn't chop them as finely as I could have if I wanted a chunkier sauce. Smoother is better I find with the toddlers :)
After that, I add in 3 cans of organic tomato sauce, my salt, pepper and seasonings and start simmering. I let my sauce simmer down uncovered for about an hour before I used my stick blender to blend away any chunky tomatoes that didn't break down during the cooking process.
That's it! You're ready to enjoy! Store the extra in a large mason jar in the fridge for up to a week, or fill your container 3/4 of the way and freeze. If you fill it to the top and freeze, the liquid in the sauce will expand and break your container or make a mess of your freezer.
Enjoy!
Comments