Homemade Tomato Sauce Recipe

Homemade Tomato Sauce Recipe from Snippets From Lisa

1 medium pot or stock pot

4 lbs of Tomatoes (I got the tomatoes that were on sale)

Boiling Water

Bowl of ice water (I hear you can use plain old cold water too)

4 T olive oil (or any other oil you prefer)

1 onion

2 carrots

4 cloves garlic

2 stalks of celery

Slice an X in bottom of the tomatoes (practically makes the tomatoes peel themselves).  Put tomatoes in water for 30 seconds to a minute (I split it into three portions).  Take the tomatoes out of the boiling water and put them into the ice bath.  Peel the skins from the tomatoes. Easy Peasy!

If you want to remove the seeds (I hear they can be bitter--but I am trying it without seeding next time) slice the tomatoes in half for oblong tomatoes and in quarters for round tomatoes.  Then pull out the seeds over a strainer and bowl to capture extra juice (I got between a half cup and 3/4 doing it that way). I also used a cutting board that had grooves around the edges to capture juices. 

Heat the oil.  

Puree the onion, celery, carrots and garlic (you can use half the seasonings listed) and put them into the oil to saute for about 10 minutes. (You can also add other spices as you would a finished sauce, but I did it at the end. Next time I will use the sauce in my chili and will add some Jalapeno, Serrano and Habanero (1) peppers with the puree.) 

Then add the pureed or sliced tomatoes and the salt.  (You can mash them with a masher in the pot too for a chunkier sauce.) 

Cook for 45 minutes (could be as little as 30, but I cooked mine for an hour) over medium low heat.  

Eat away!