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Sicilian Cooking

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Backyard’s Tomato Sauce

( Salsa con Pomidori del Giardino )

Everyone who owns a house and has a backyard, without fail, cultivate some tomato plants. In the summer, when the tomato plants make the fruits, there is so much to harvest that although tomato salad is eaten for lunch and dinner, there are plenty of leftover tomatoes. 

Terry, my wife, preserves the extra tomatoes, by cooking them in small batches and making an appetizing sauce with the flavors of the summer! 

This simple recipe will use all the surplus tomatoes, but most importantly you will make a delicious sauce to store in the freezer to be enjoyed in the winter months.

    Ingredients

    • 2 lb of tomato
    • 1 large onion
    • 1 clove of garlic
    • 1 small carrot
    • handful of basil leaves
    • oregano and hot pepper (optional)
    • 2 tablespoons of olive oil
    • 1 pinch of salt
    • pepper to taste

    Instructions

    1

    Wash tomatoes and carrot and cut it roughly together with onion.

    2

    Place in a heavy saucepan with remaining ingredients.

    3

    Bring to a boil and then lower the flame and simmer, stirring occasionally.

    4

    The salt should cause the tomato to release enough liquid to cook the sauce.

    5

    If it remains too dry (which seldom happens) add a bit of water, a little at a time.

    6

    Cook for 1 hour, stirring occasionally to prevent the sauce from sticking to the bottom of the saucepan.

    7

    Taste sauce and adjust for salt.

    8

    After cooling the sauce, pass it through a vegetable strainer to eliminate the skin and seeds.

    9

    Usually Terry stores this sauce in 8 oz. plastic containers, and freezes it.

    10

    An 8 oz. container is enough to garnish 3 cups of cooked rice (½ pound of uncooked rice), or ¾ lb. of pasta.

    11

    This sauce is delicate, tasty and healthy, and it can be included in low calories diet.