Hey BG... you came to the right place. Between dh and I we are 200% Italian and we do grow our own tomatoes too. When I don't have fresh tomatoes I do used canned whole peeled tomatoes ONLY from San Marzano Italy (most delicious).

Anyway, to use your own start by cutting them in half and then squeezing the seeds and water out.

Then cut them into smaller pieces and add to a pot where you have already put a generous coating of olive oil and you have cut up some garlic and browned the garlic until slightly golden. You can also add onions and brown them with the garlic but I don't do that because while I like onions they don't like me .

You will need to cook this for about 2 hours, stirring it often. As they cook the tomatoes sort of disintegrate into a sauce.

Now... because I dislike lumpy tomato sauce after about an hour I will then run it through what we call a passatutto which I guess is a food mill? or a strainer of some kind? It's done by hand by cranking the handle which spins the blades which further puree the tomato mixture. (I guess you could also use a food processor).

I will then put it back into the pot and season it with parsley, dried oregano, a dash of salt and black pepper and some onion powder (if you don't use the onions). At this point I will also add meat if I want to make a meat sauce. I use either a chopped meat mixture of beef, pork and veal (which I have already browned), or make meatballs, or browned chunks of veal. This cooks another hour at least.

Cook with the pot cover half opened to let the steam escape. The tomatoes reduce and it becomes a concentrated tomato sauce flavored with meat (or not). Towards the end I will add fresh basil if I have some (we grow that too).

Good luck and let me know if you have any questions.

Buon appettito
TN

Mmmm, that sounds awesome. How amazing you are, TN!

I think I'm gonna try this too.

I'm going to try this next weekend! Thank you

What nice responses. Thank you.

I hope it turns out well for all of you.

To make really good tomato sauce you need to start with very good tomatoes. While my own are fresh and good, the (canned) ones from San Marzano Italy are truly the best because they are grown in the fertile volcanic soil and ash of Mt. Vesuvius. They also have a perfect climate for these tomatoes.

Good luck to all the cooks out there!

Hugs
TN

That sounds yummy, TN...I'll have to try making that sometime. Having grown up in an Italian family, I can't stand all of those major brands of tomato sauce that are so sweet! My father used to have a restaurant and, for all his fatal flaws, he did make a delicious tomato sauce. The only thing in the stores that I've found that's actually quite close to it is Rao's tomato basil. It's a bit pricey, so I only use it every so often, but it's not bad, IMO.

Hey BG... I forgot to warn you about the wonderful aroma! In fact, we made this last night for dinner with our fresh tomatoes and the smell was driving me crazy until we could eat it.

Okay.. so now... I need your recipe for zucchini bread! I do make a zucchini cheese pie but not bread and we always have so much zucchini.

BTW... do you eat the flowers? I had my dh grow zucchini just so I could eat the flowers. Love them.

TN

BG, I'm gonna try that bread!

I have a funny story. One day I went to my sister's for a BBQ and she hands me this chocolate brownie. She insisted I try it immediately (before dinner) and I was sort of surprised at her insistance but I ate it and said it was very good. She laughed and told me it was made with Zucchini!

She wanted to know if I could tell (obviously not LOL) because she wanted the kids to eat them. She is always trying to figure out how to get my 8 year old nephew to eat his veggies and so... why not in his dessert LMAO!

The kids could not tell the difference!!

TN

I'd like that recipe!!

Oh goodness BG I have absolutely no idea how I managed to reply on your thread I am so sorry ....now you definitely won't leave me any left-overs!!!!!

starfishy