I am a casual gardener – that is, I have had a vegetable and herb garden for years, but never take my garden too seriously. I enjoy watching things grow, smelling wonderful herbs, and cooking with the produce when I feel like it. When it comes to the tomatoes, however, I can not stand to waste them.
My six tomato plants usually produce more than I can eat individually. (My husband is not a fan of tomatoes.) I give a few away, but prefer to use them myself; but I hate canning any oversupply. Do you have far too many tomatoes in your garden? Here's my solution.
I live in the Midwest and this is the time of year when my tomato plants produce at their peak. I created this recipe to take advantage of my abundance of tomatoes, along with the wide variety of herbs and jalapeno peppers in my garden. Near them I have a couple of white eggplant and red okra, which are really interesting to watch. I will spare them for now.
DCL's SUPREME SAUCE
DCL's Supreme Sauce is a combination of fresh tomato juice mixed with a fresh pesto base. I made the tomato juice first and then whipped up the pesto. I used my food processor for the entire recipe, but made a mess when I combined the juice with the pesto in the processor. I probably should have used a blender for the final mix. Oh, well, I tend to be very messy in the kitchen anyway.
Fresh Tomato Juice
INGREDIENTS: Tomatoes w/o skins
I picked a bunch of fresh vine-ripened tomatoes; about 4 quarts in volume (or whatever you have available). If you have never removed skins from tomatoes before, it is a whole lot easier than it sounds.
DIRECTIONS for REMOVING TOMATO SKINS
1. Fill up an 8-quart pot with water and bring it to boiling.
2. Cut off the stems, core as needed, and cut away any undesirable parts from the tomatoes. You don't need to waste a tomato that has a few bad spots.
3. After the water is boiling, put in the tomatoes. After two or three minutes, the skins will begin to loosen. It is easy to see that.
4. When the skins are loose, use a slotted spoon to lift the tomatoes and transfer to a bowl.
5. Remove the loosened skin when cool enough to handle.
6. After all of the skins are removed, put the tomato flesh into a food processor.
7. To make the juice, pulse and blend until liquefied.
8. Remove juice from processor and set aside in a bowl. The juice will be thin and runny. Do not worry about the seeds.
Article comments
1 - Joanne Huspek
Lucky you. Due to a cold June and a chilly July, (and a bit of tomato fungus) I will not have enough tomatoes to make your sauce, much less can. :-( I can barely tolerate a store bought tomato, meaning I'm already plotting for next year.