G-Love and Special Sauce

Or We All Live in a Yellow Marinara!

Hey Everybody!  I hope you are feeling as fat and happy as I am!  I have finally had my fill of Turducken, sweet potatoes, stuffing (the noun and the verb), cider, wassail, whipped cream, pies, cookies, cakes and the refrain, "Ah fuck it! It's the holidays!"

That's right folks like everybody else I am turning over a new leaf, pulling myself up by my boot straps, hitting the gym (any day now) and eating "lighter".  Seriously. I am! No more going out to eat! (after tonight) and no more cheese, milk ice cream or nog of any kind for a little while. (Damn it! I love nog).

So this little post might do ya right, as it is a 100% fat free posting, and the food's pretty low fat too.  These beautiful babies were purchased at a deep discount from the Plummer Park farmer's market.  My favorite farmer for tomatoes is down at the last stall at the eastern end.  Tucked away in the back of the market they keep their over ripe tomatoes that would not pass muster in a cold tossed salad.  But these gems are perfect for making into tomato sauce.  They are quite ripe and full of their natural sugar.

Making homemade tomato sauce is so easy, and so delightful is the result, that it really deserves to be done a few times every summer.  But in here in LA, our tomatoes were still going strong in November.  So when I ran into over-ripe yellow heirlooms for $1/pound I had no choice but to make a big old pot of sauce.

For you to do it too, you'll need:
a pound or more of very ripe Tomatoes
an Onion
Garlic
Basil
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper
Sugar (optional)


To begin, cut an X in the bottom of each tomato and drop it into boiling water for about 6 seconds.  Take it out and let it cool off before peeling each triangle away easily, like so...

Soon enough you'll have an entire bowl that looks like this!

            










So saute about one small onion diced in about two to three tablespoons of good olive oil on low heat.  It's important that the onion doesn't brown which can make the sauce bitter.  Add the garlic and be even MORE careful not to brown that because that is even more likely to make your sauce bitter.

How much garlic?  How much you like?  Like a lot? Put in a lot. Like a little? What the hell'samatta with you?   Once your onions are soft and translucent and your garlic is fragrant and yummy add all the tomatoes at once.  You can cut them up to make this easier.  Other fancier touches: you can core them to remove any fibrous bits, you can seed them because all culinarians hate tomato seeds (except me, i think that's a big waste of time), and you can add a bit of sugar if the sweet to acid ratio is not to your liking (like 1 to 3 teaspoons one at a time, to taste).

Cook over a low heat at a simmer for 10 to 20 minutes and then add your beautiful fresh basil in any shape you like from whole leaves to fine chiffonade. How much? 5 to 20 leaves, it's up to you.  Any amount it's gonna be pretty!

Adjust your seasonings, you are going to need salt and pepper and possibly a touch of sugar, (or honey, or succant or agave- whatever)  If you are using red tomatoes and you have a good quality balsamic vinegar you can add a dash of that.  The sweet and acidic combination is a very nice touch.  Now use this on everything! Eggs, ravioli, pasta and of course...

yum.