A Simple Marinara Sauce

Homegrown tomatoes

After a long gap I am harvesting tomatoes in sizable quantities this summer that require processing. Yes, the monkeys have been kind enough to share with us. I have been harvesting around 3/4 of a kilo every two days. The strategy is to harvest them the moment they start to show the slightest bit of colour. Sorry, no vine-ripened tomatoes for us, lest the monkeys get more than they leave for us. Left in the basket they ripen in a couple of days.

I have made two batches of marinara, and who knows, I just might succumb and make ketchup too. It’s just a tad too much work for the likes of me. But miracles do happen.

Marinara can be a hit and miss for many as the quality of tomatoes is inconsistent and most of the time we wing it rather than follow a recipe. Many of you messaged me on Instagram asking for my recipe. When I made the second batch I took care to measure the ingredients which there are few of. Go ahead and make it with the bounty of tomatoes currently in season. Don’t tell me you don’t have the time. 🙂 Make the most of the lock-down; it will be behind us soon and we be back to our sordid ways again.

I don’t fuss with peeling the tomato skins by blanching or processing the tomatoes through a food-mill. Lock-down or not, I have better things to do with my time. I didn’t plant any Italian basil this past winter so I had none for the sauce. Do add a few leaves if you can get some or use whatever fresh herbs you have available. Use dried herbs if you don’t have fresh ones. Make it your own. I used rosemary and marjoram from my garden and didn’t miss the basil at all. You can always add other herbs to your dish later.

Marinara Sauce

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Slow-simmered Tomatoes

 

My Workshops are but an excuse for me to cook up new recipes for an unsuspecting crowd. Somehow I have never been afraid to try a new, untested recipe for a crowd of complete strangers who are yet to make up their minds about my cooking prowess. In fact, more often than not, I pick new recipes for grand meals where my reputation is at stake. Most of the time I sail through reputation unscathed.

As was with these slow-simmered tomatoes I selected to cook from an old Bon-Appetit cookbook bought a very long time ago. It was one of the few photographed recipes, duly captioned, yet missing from the index. I had to scan the book, page by page, to find the recipe which was simplification itself. Other than the oodles of olive oil and a really long simmer it asked for little else.

It was the month of December. I had spotted the most beautiful tomatoes and bought a basket full. I had a Pasta class coming up and these would make a great side.