Fresh Tomtao Sauce pp.335

Tomatoes

     Not a family favorite 'fruit' except in the form of sauce or ketchup.   But when I saw 'Heirloom Type' tomatoes at the farmers market on Saturday,  I knew that this week I had to make something with them out of the cookbook.  Since these bad boys were ripe (the guy said I only had two days to do something with them), I decided to make sauce out of them.

Working 
     I had to peel the tomatoes,  core, and take the seeds out (or maybe it was core, peel, de-seed...).  In the back of my mind were the thoughts of once seeing ways to easily peel tomatoes.  I wanted something easy because these guys were ripe and juicy.  So to Google I went!   I found this great link which aided me in my endeavor.  
     One thing I learned is that you should not be boiling tomatoes and making pickles at the same time.  When you are doing this process to take the skin off of tomatoes,  you need to just focus on that task on hand.  No multi-tasking here.  If you can multi-task while peeling tomatoes,  I will be amazed.  Please post you story in the comments below!   My mother-in-law (MIL) told me she likes to freeze her tomatoes first and then after they are frozen,  you can peel the skin off under luke-warm water.  The tomatoes will come out as mush,  but if you are making non-chunky sauce,  this is a great thing!
    The next step was easy,   popped them in the pot,  cooked them,  then pureed them.  Added some sliced up basil from my garden and then 'voila!' we had sauce.  This was not enough sauce to feed an platoon of men fresh from the fields,  but rather enough sauce for two hungry women who have been chasing the kids and cleaning the house all day.

Results
     It was yummy.  Since I am trying to make things from scratch more often,  this will definitely go on the list of things to make again and again.  I think it would be cheaper to purchase sauce from the store,  but sometimes, when you eat, think about it as life insurance and the investment you are making to your health. 












Pickly Predicament
I wanted to make pickles.  I made pickles.  I now have to wait a few weeks before I can try them.  Or rather,  since I do not like pickles,  I have to wait a few weeks for the boys to try them.  I hope they work! This recipe is from the "Herbs for the Kitchen" book.  It's Garlic and Dill Pickles from the garlic chapter.  I used pickles and Cajun garlic from the farmers market!