Make Your Own Marinara...plus what to do with it

Help! I'm falling victim to the annual attack of the killer tomatoes. And more are coming by the minute. There's only one way out of this overabundanance that I've created: namely, elbow grease. Roll up your sleeves and let's make some marinara. And this is the real stuff, kiddos, like you get in Italy. The ingredients are very simple to let the taste of the summer tomatoes shine through.

First of all, you'll need to peel the tomatoes, a simple but slightly messy procedure. Slice a small X into the bottom of your tomatoes.Drop them in boiling water for about thirty seconds. When cool enough to handle peel back the skin. Easy enough.

For marinara, I'll use any variety of tomatoes. Obviously, some less juicy tomatoes are better for cooking, but don't let that stop you. After you peel the tomatoes, if they are extremely seedy and juicy, just squeeze them over the sink to get out as much of the juice as you can.

Simple Marinara

(makes about 2 quarts)

1/4 cup good quality olive oil

1 large onion, finely chopped

4 large cloves garlic, minced

6 lbs. peeled tomato, about 20 tomatoes

generous pinch red pepper flakes

1/3 cup chopped fresh basil

2-5 oregano leaves

1-2 teaspoons brown sugar

about 1 teaspoon each salt and pepper

6 ounce can tomato paste, optional

Heat oil in large heavy pot. Add onion and saute for about five minutes, until softened. Add garlic and saute for thirty secons. Add tomatoes, red pepper flakes, basil, and oregano. Mash down tomatoes with potato masher. Simmer for about one hour, or until tomatoes are broken down and not too juicy. (If needed, cook longer to get rid of more juices.) I use my immersion blender at this point to make a smooth sauce. If you don't have an immersion blender, you can transfer the sauce in batches to a blender. (If the sauce is not thick enough at this point, add in some or all of the tomato paste.) Taste and adjust the sauce for sweetness and add the brown sugar, salt and pepper. At this point you can process your sauce for canning OR freeze it in heavy duty zip top bags.
Now cook up some pasta and some sausage and you've got a nice dinner.

In a couple of nights you can make some garden vegetable soup. Click here for my recipe. (Use 1 and 1/2 cup marinara instead of the canned diced tomatoes.)

Or, if you've had another attack from your garden, you can make Summer Squash Parmigiano, which I absolutely adore. (You can use chicken cutlets instead of squash, but where's the fun is that?)

Dredge sliced squash in flour.

Dip in egg thinned with a little water.

Roll in breadcrumbs mixed with a little parmesan and dried basil. (If you can let it sit for about 30 minutes; the crumbs will adhere better. Even still, I almost never wait. Too busy.)

Lightly fry in some olive oil.

Place in a 9 by 13 dish with some of your yummy marinara.

Cover with basil, parmesan, mozzarella, and bake at 425 degrees for about 10 minutes or until cheese is melted, bubbly, and utterly irresistible. Oh, yummy. Now get to work.

Be back tomorrow with Whole Wheat Banana Muffins