Do you have too many tomatoes from the garden or perhaps you bought some and didn't get around to using them in time and now they are heading for the compost bin? Well stop right there and read on so that you know what to do with your about-to-expire tomatoes.
Make homemade spaghetti sauce.
1. The first thing to know is that you'll need to remove the tomato skins. To do this put the tomatoes in a pot of boiling water for 1 minute. After one minute pull them out with a slotted spoon and put them into a prepared bowl of ice water. This makes the skins pull right off of the tomatoes. If you leave the skins on, when making sauce they become tough and that is not a good textured to have in a smooth tomato sauce.
2. Next you'll want to drain the tomatoes of liquid by squeezing out all liquid with your hands. By removing all of the extra liquid you'll end up with a thicker spaghetti sauce.
3. Put the tomatoes into your food processor and puree them.
Get the rest after the jump.
4. Pour them into a sauce pan with the heat on low.
5. To season the tomato sauce, use onion powder, basil, bay leaves, sweet red peppers, oregano and salt and pepper. You can also add in some lemon juice and red wine.
6. Bring the sauce to a simmer and determine if the thickness is to your liking. If not add a can of tomato paste.
7. Once it starts to bubble it is done and ready to serve.
TIPS:
Add honey to your sauce to entice young eaters to partake -- it works like a charm.
If you have more tomatoes than you need for your sauce dice them up, cover a crusty bread with oil, throw on the tomatoes, sprinkle with salt and pepper and serve.
Tomatoes can also be frozen either whole or chopped. Put the tomatoes into a freezer bag, push out all the air, seal and freeze. Label and date the bag and use the frozen tomatoes within a year.
