Fresh Tomato Sauce

I'm finally posting a recipe from one of my (Okay, not really "one of"... it's my favorite) cooking blogs!  I adore Smitten Kitchen.  She's my blogging idol, to be frank.  So I couldn't pass up the opportunity to use one of her recipes when I found myself with 5 lbs of tomatoes, due to a plentiful harvest from my garden! Since she has everything outlined pretty clearly on her website, I won't do a play-by-play here. 

Here's the link: 

http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2010/08/fresh-tomato-sauce/

First, I washed the tomatoes and sliced x's on the bottom to make for easier peeling.  

Next, I blanched each tomato for 10-30 seconds, then shocked under cold running water immediately after.  After shocking the tomatoes, they were very easy to peel.  

Next, I finely chopped my carrot, celery, onion and garlic.  

After chopping the veggies, I cooked them in the 1/4 cup EVOO for approximately 10 minutes.  This is one of my favorite parts.  The aroma of the veggies cooking is just wonderful! 

Last, I added the tomatoes to the mix.  While cooking, I used a potato masher to break down the chunks a bit.  I'm not a huge fan of super chunky sauce.  I also added ground beef afterwards to make it into a meat sauce.  I usually prefer a meat sauce so there's a source of protein in the meal, but the recipe tastes amazing either way.  

I was especially thrilled to make tomato sauce because the tomatoes were all fresh from our garden.  Our hard work has finally paid off!  Anyone could of course, tweak the recipe to their desire, adding spice or peppers, or going in a sweeter direction.  The options are endless. 

Again, look at her blog for details- I gave a general description here, but the recipe is outlined in detail on the blog.