Fresh Tomato Sauce

Another recipe taken from Fine Cooking. I never before considered making my own tomato sauce, but this magazine has never let me down. I will that admit making this sauce was a long process for something that could have been equally accomplished by buying canned tomatoes, but if you have two hours (one spent preparing and one waiting), this recipe produces a great-tasting tomato sauce. The sauce keeps in the refrigerator for up to three days or in the freezer for up to three months.

Ingredients

• 4 pounds ripe Roma tomatoes (about 10-20)
• 2 Tbs extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 tsp kosher salt
  

Instructions

1. Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Rinse the tomatoes in cold water. With a paring knife, cut an X into the bottom of each tomato. (This will make it easier to peel the tomatoes once they’re blanched.) Carefully lower about 10 tomatoes into the boiling water and leave them for 20 to 30 seconds. Use a slotted spoon to move them to a large bowl filled with ice water. Continue blanching the tomatoes in batches and transferring them to the ice water.
2. Use a paring knife and your fingers to remove the skin from the tomatoes—it should peel off easily. Cut the tomatoes lengthwise into quarters, core, and remove the seeds. Coarsely chop the tomatoes and transfer them to a bowl.
3. Heat the oil and the garlic in a 5- to 6-quart heavy-duty pot over medium-low heat until the garlic begins to sizzle and very lightly browns, 3 to 4 minutes. Carefully pour in the tomatoes. Raise the heat to medium high and bring the tomatoes to a boil. Stir in the salt, reduce the heat to medium, and let the sauce simmer, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes have broken down and the sauce has thickened, about 1 hour. Remove from the heat and discard the garlic.
4. Serve over pasta, along with chopped basil and fresh Parmigiano.
   

Makes 4 cups sauce.