Basic Tomato Sauce

Probably should have posted this closer to summer when people have tomatoes coming out their ears. This is time consuming but worth it. It freezes and keeps well and tastes so much fresher and better than jar brands that are loaded with salt and corn syrup. You can taste the natural sweetness of the vegetables melded with the spices, garlic, olive oil and wine. Great plain on pasta with some garlic bread, or as the base to a meat sauce or as your sauce ingredient in lasagne and other Italian dishes.


20 Roma tomatoes (or 1/2 as many regular tomatoes, or a mix)
2T butter
1 1/2 C coarse chopped onion (approx 3 sml onions)
1 Green bell pepper, finely diced
1/2 C carrot, finely diced or ground (approx 1 lg carrot)
1 small stalk celery
1T dry parsley
1T dry basil
1t dry oregano
1/4 t dry thyme
1 t salt
5-6 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 C red wine
1/4 C olive oil
6 T tomato paste
Ice for bath

Prepare an ice bath in a medium mixing bowl. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil and plunge tomatoes in a few at a time until skin starts to peel approx. 1-1 1/2 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon and place in ice bath for 5-10 seconds then remove and let rest until cool enough to handle.

Peel and seed tomatoes by splitting across middle (not through stem) to expose the tomatoes' chambers and then squeeze out seeds. Skin should slip off easily at the same time. Don't worry if a little skin remains here and there. Chop tomatoes and puree in food processor and set aside.

In a large pot over medium heat sauté onion, pepper an carrot in butter approx. 5 minutes or until onion begins to soften and clarify. Add olive oil, spices and garlic and sauté another minute until fragrant. Add wine and bring to simmer (1-2) minutes). Add tomato paste then tomato puree and whole celery stalk and bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, partially cover and simmer two hours, stirring occasionally. Remove and discard celery and simmer an additional 2 hours, stirring occasionally.