Friday, July 29, 2011

Kitchen Sink Sauce

Between the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and our own garden, we have had a surplus of tomatoes.

So this past week when we were plum full of veggies I decided to make tomato sauce.

What better way to get an assortment of vegetables into your children then through tomato sauce (something that can go on anything from spaghetti, "meatball" subs, to stromboli).

I started out with this


I know that looks like A LOT of produce we ended up using:

3 summer squash
2 patty pan squash
2 vidalia onions
3 bell peppers
5 cloves of garlic
6 carrots
1 jalapeno
20-22 tomatoes
1 bag of spinach

It goes without saying, at least in our house, that the produce was all organic.

After I got everything chopped up (no need for pretty pieces as it will all be blended in the end) I began sauteing everything but the spinach and tomatoes.  For me this gives the vegetables another layer of flavor.


Man does that look good in the pan.  The colors are beautiful and the smell was out of this world.  I didn't use any seasonings just a tablespoon or two of olive oil for the pan.

After about 10 minutes everything had a nice brown caramelized color to it.

I added the vegetables, my vast quantity of tomatoes, and 2 tablespoons of sugar to a stock pot and simmered on low while covered.


After about 20 minutes, although times can very depending on the stove, my veggies had cooked down enough that I could add my spinach.


I let the veggies simmer some more to wilt the spinach and then I let this tomato perfection cool.


It takes a REALLY long time for this to cool off, for me it was overnight.

The next day I blended everything down and canned it


You will notice that I didn't include any spices (not even pepper or salt).  The reasoning for this is that I prefer to season the sauce based upon the meal I am serving.  For example I may want red pepper flakes in one batch for some "meatball" subs (no real meat for me) but for spaghetti I might just want some pepper, salt, and Italian seasoning.
By leaving it plain you can do a variety of things and allows for lots of experimentation.

I have made this sauce once before and had some different veggies (i.e. zucchini which was missing from this batch). 

I encourage you to put anything in that you think will taste good.  This is a great way to make some super powered sauce.

I will feature this sauce next week in my eggplant parmesan...which I promise will delight and have you never thinking chicken was supposed to be in this dish.

For a great Stonyfield "Summer Pack" check out This Mama Cook's
For a great chance to win $100 gift card for Tea Collection check out Akron Ohion Mom

17 comments:

  1. You and I definitely think alike. I LOVE that you left out the seasonings. No better way to tweak a meal than adding things in at the end. Great post!

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  2. What a healthy sauce that is! I just love anything homemade!

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  3. I love the sauce. What a great way to get rid of all those veggies we have from our garden. Thanks for sharing.

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  4. Whoa that much veggies in one jar? Or you had more jars? The tomato sauce looks wonderful and I can't wait to see what kind of dish you will make with this homemade sauce!

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  5. I love the idea of a CSA. Great idea to leave the seasoning until you are adding the sauce to a dish. As you say, Rachel, it's a brilliant way to sneak veggies past kids.

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  6. Wow! Look at all those tomatoes! We've still only been getting them here and there in our CSA, and the ones in my garden aren't quite where they're supposed to be yet. This sauce sounds absolutely delicious and jam-packed full of flavor =)

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  7. what a great idea to use summer veggies. leaving the seasonings out is just brilliant!
    Thanks for sharing and thank you for your sweet words left on my guest post on Nami @ Just One Cookbook blog

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  8. Great job! I love fresh made sauce!

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  9. Smart not to season the sauce right now, so you can tailor it to whatever you are making at the time!

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  10. Such a fantastic healthy sauce. Homemade sauce always tastes so much better!

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  11. Ooo,that sounds really really delicious!

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  12. That looks fantastic! I always need new veggie ideas for my kids and our tomatoes are just getting going. Following your blog now, come check mine out! :) http://indulgebakery.blogspot.com/

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  13. I am jealous of your garden! So many great plants!
    It is great to make your own tomato sauce. I just recently did the same, what a coincidence.

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  14. Great idea to hold off seasoning the sauce!

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  15. Those tomatoes look amazing!! I've got about 12 tomato plants growing outside... and we've got 1 tomato that's almost ripe! Way behind you guys! I love the idea of this salsa. I've never made it before, so I'll def. give it a go. I'm looking forward to making fresh tomato and basil soup with our's xx

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  16. Wow that looks amazing! I love that you used fresh veggies! Yum! Thanks for sharing!

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