Fresh Tomato Sauce

Last week was a bit hectic so I was unable to get a recipe posted, because of the lack of new recipes last week I will be posting two today. So, for the first of today’s recipe I will be sharing a way for you to use of the last of the summer tomatoes. (Summer does end on Saturday.) You can always freeze this sauce and use it when you need a taste of summer in the middle of the cold winter that is supposed to be coming this year.

What You’ll Need…

10 Small/Medium or 5 Large Tomatoes (Diced)

1 Bell Pepper (Small dice)

1 Rib Celery (Diced)

2 Medium Carrots (Grated, preferably on a micro plane.)

2 Cups Mushrooms (Sliced)

3 Cloves Garlic (Minced)

¼ - ½ Sugar (This depends on how sweet you want your sauce to be.)

½ Cup Basil (Whole leaves.)

Pepper (To taste)

Salt (To taste)

Herbes de Provence (To taste)

Wash, peel, and chop all of your vegetables with the exception of the carrots. Place all of the chopped vegetables in a medium stock pot and using a micro plane grate the carrots into the pot. Add the spices to the pot, stir to combine, and place the pot over medium-low heat.

Allow the sauce to simmer for 3 hours stirring every 30 minutes.

Once the sauce has cooked turn off the heat and allow it to cool slightly. At this point you have a few options; you can serve it right away the way that it is with your favorite pasta or in lasagna, you can puree it so that you have a less chunky sauce, you can place it in an air tight container and store it in the refrigerator for about a week, or you can freeze it so that you can use it later.

Enjoy!