Harvesting Tomatoes

Cherry tomatoes - Sweet Baby Girl, Gold Nugget and Honey Bee

After our usual dry summer we've had a nice spell of rain.  Nothing waters the ground like rain.  I've been keeping the tomatoes well hydrated, but when I went up to pick tomatoes today, there were lots of cherry tomatoes with cracks.  It happens every time!  Since these tomatoes need to be dealt with immediately, I decided to make tomato sauce with them.  Cherry tomatoes make delicious sauces.  The ingredients were all immediately to hand - tomatoes, onions, garlic and basil.  You can vary it with peppers, thyme and add other ingredients such as carrots, zucchini - whatever takes your fancy.  Here's how I made it today:

Simple Tomato Sauce

3 quarts of cherry tomatoes
1 large onion, roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
3 Tbsp olive oil
3 quarts of cherry tomatoes, stems removed, of course!
handful of basil leaves - chiffonaded*
Salt & pepper to taste and you can add a little sugar as well

Saute the onions in olive oil until they are partly softened.  Then add the garlic and continue sauteing until softened.  Add the cherry tomatoes.  I didn't chop them, just squashed them a little to hasten the breakdown.  Simmer until the mixture has thickened somewhat.  Cool slightly and blend in a food processor.  Put back in the pan and add the basil.  Reheat until the basil is limp and season with salt and pepper.  A little sugar will balance the acidity although cherry tomatoes already have sweetness.  Cool, package and freeze.

I place two-soup ladle scoop amounts in ziplock bags which yields sufficient sauce for two-person spaghetti meals.

* How to chiffonade:  roll the leaves up into a bundle and slice thinly with a sharp knife.  You wind up with thin ribbons of basil which will provide flavour, texture and colour to your sauce.