Monday, December 30, 2013

simple homemade tomato sauce

happy monday everyone!

we had such a great weekend! we got to hang out with lots of our friends and had plenty of time to relax at home (my perfect combo).

i also got to do a little cooking this weekend, which i enjoy so much more now that i do it in my free time instead of rushing to cook dinner after work every night. (thanks again, chef michael!)

one thing i've been wanting to try for awhile is a homemade tomato sauce that i can make, freeze, and use instead of store-bought tomato/pasta sauce. even though lots of stores have healthier versions of pasta sauces these days, they're typically still loaded with sodium, artificial colorings, etc.

my parents bought me gwenyth paltrow's cookbook it's all good for Christmas, and i love it! she is fairly famous in the food world now for her lifestyle/cooking blogs and books, and this one in particular has a lot of great recipes, as well as some articles talking about why she chooses to eat the way she does. while it would be hard for "normal" people like me to eat this way all the time, i think it is great to try to cut out as many processed, artificial foods as possible.


anyway, it just so happens that this book has a homemade tomato sauce recipe in it that's so easy! as soon as i read it, i put the ingredients on my shopping list to make this weekend. it turned out really well and made the house smell awesome!

here's what you need:
-2 tbsp olive oil
-6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
-4 large fresh basil leaves (or 2 tbsp dried basil)
-2 28-oz cans whole peeled tomatoes, with their juice
-salt & pepper

directions:

1. heat olive oil in a large saucepan on low heat.
2. add garlic and cook for 5 minutes


3. add basil and cook for 1 minute


4. add both cans of tomatoes and their juice, and bring to a boil.
5. turn heat down to low and let simmer for 45 minutes, covered. stir occasionally and break up tomatoes with a wooden spoon.
**note: i had a hard time breaking up the tomatoes, even after they cooked for 45 minutes. i took out my handy potato masher, and it worked like a charm!
6. let sauce cool before packing. this recipe made roughly 4 cups, which i packed in 2 mason jars. it will keep in the fridge for a week and in the freezer for up to 6 months.


enjoy!

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