"Homemade Tomato Sauce"

My homemade tomato sauce... ... is my daughter's favorite food. She says she could eat it every day. And I believe her.

Which is why I made and froze 20 quarts of the stuff two weeks before she's due to move out for college.

I am no dummy. This is one way I can be sure she'll come home during school breaks.

This sauce is so easy. And so delicious that you will want to make it, too. Whether or not you need it as an enticement.

I use Roma tomatoes from the Farmers' Market grown in Waverly, Minnesota. Roma's are meaty. And not overly juicy. If the tomatoes are too juicy you have to cook and cook and cook them to get the sauce to thicken.

Other varieties of tomatoes have fabulous flavor. If you use them and they're very juicy, you'll just have to use more of them to end up with a useable amount of sauce.

First, wash the tomatoes.

Cut out the stem portion.

Chop 'em up.

Chop up a large onion.

Put the tomatoes and onion in a large stock pot. The proportions don't have to be precise. I can usually get 1/3 to 1/2 of a box of tomatoes in one stock pot. I use one large onion per pot.

Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally.

Cook at a hearty simmer (liquid should be bubbling) until most of the very thin juice has cooked off and the mixture looks like the photo above.

I had four pots at various stages going at one time.

You can see from the pot on the left in the back how much the tomatoes cook down.

Now set up a food strainer. Mine is a Victorio brand.

The cooked tomatoes go in the funnel on top of the strainer.

Sometimes you have to push them through.

The pulp comes out one end. Be sure to catch it in a bowl and put it through the strainer at least two more times. You'll be surprised how much more sauce you can ring out of it.

The sauce comes out the other end.

It will be somewhat runny.

We fill individual quart containers with sauce. The only seasoning we put in the sauce at this point is some fresh basil. We won't season with anything else until we actually use it. That gives us more flexibility when that time comes.

Now, doesn't that just say, "Be sure to come one home, girl, once in a while, without actually saying it?

My daughter's favorite use for the sauce? Simply thaw it and heat. Let it thicken a bit more. Season with salt and pepper to taste. A pinch of sugar. Maybe a bit more fresh basil. Just before serving, throw in a Tablespoon of butter. Stir.

Serve on pasta with fresh Parmesan.

You can zing it up with garlic or peppers if you like, but we keep it simple so we can taste the homegrown tomato flavor.

Enjoy!