No more room on the kitchen counter

Last night I was complaining that I was tired of seeing all this produce sitting out on my kitchen counter.  I think that my statement was misunderstood.  I certainly was not bemoaning about the bounty of my vegetable garden, but about the clutter it brought to my kitchen work space.

I went out to my community garden last night after a week and a half of not visiting and I was struck by what I saw. Irene had made an uninvited visit to our community garden knocking over corn stalks, sunflowers, cosmos and my beautiful bean stalk tee-pee. I never gave any thought to the garden when I was hunkered down at home praying that the hurricane would not destroy any of my oak trees or home.

After I got over the disappointment of destroyed flowers and bean stalks, I got down to business looking for vegetables.  The photo above reflects just a small portion of the bounty that Irene did not touch.  I also dug up some awesome yellow and orange carrots.  Which, I might add, are quite delicious.

My guess is if you have a garden you also have a counter full of tomatoes.  How many dishes can you make out of tomatoes?  Well I would like to offer you one option- Basic Tomato Sauce.

Coming from an Italian family filled with many wonderful cooks, you know there's got to be at least one good sauce recipe.  My aunt Angie gave me this recipe from her collection of catering recipes. So now I share it with you.  Enjoy!

Basic Tomato Sauce

28 ounces canned or fresh tomatoes

1 large carrot, peeled and chopped

1 large onion, peeled and chopped

2 sticks of celery, chopped

1 handful fresh parsley

salt and pepper

2 tablespoons butter or 4 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

1. Place all the vegetables and parsley into a large stock pot. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer gently for about 40 minutes.

2. Remove from heat, pass through a sieve or food mill and discard all the seeds and mashed vegetables.  This puree can now be stored in your refrigerator or freezer until you are ready to use it.

3. Prepare your pasta as desired.

4. Pour the puree tomato sauce back into the saucepan and add the salt and pepper. Right before serving the pasta, add the  butter or olive oil.  DO NOT cook the oil or butter, just mix it through the sauce before serving.