There’s something special about homemade tomato sauce. Building a sauce from scratch is a lot of fun. Metaphysically, taking a pile of vegetables and turning it into a delicious sauce is a wonderful act of transformation. More concretely, you can convert about $15 of fresh vegetables into food that will actually get eaten instead of rotting in your fridge.

You can build this sauce from prep to ready in about an hour and a half, but the longer you let it simmer the better it gets. This is a great activity to do on a long afternoon or a lazy weekend day. It’s also easy to freestyle other ingredients into this sauce. Try adding a couple of jalapeño peppers for a spicier sauce, or using vidalia onions to shift the flavor a little. Experiment with different vinegars and wines. Add a little citrus in there. Go nuts.

Ingredients

• 6-8 tomatoes on the vine
• 1-2 large heirloom tomatoes
• 1.5 pounds Roma tomatoes
• 1 onion or shallot, chopped fine
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 yellow bell pepper
• 2 tbsp minced garlic
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 can tomato paste
• 5-6 leaves chopped basil or 2 tbsp dried basil
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar (you can use wine if you prefer)
• 1 tbsp garlic salt
• Celery salt
• Red pepper flakes, oregano, or thyme to your taste

Special Equipment

For this recipe you’ll need a large stock pot, a large mixing bowl, and basic kitchen supplies. An immersion blender is helpful but not strictly necessary.

Process

Part One: prep the tomatoes.

1. Boil a large stock pot half-full with water. While it heats, rinse the tomatoes, using a paring knife to carve an X into the apex of each tomato.
2. Once the water boils: drop the heat back a little, then gently drop each tomato into the boiling water.
3. While the tomatoes boil, prepare an ice-water bath in your large mixing bowl.
4. After the tomatoes have been boiling for about five minutes, you should see the skin peeling back. Use tongs to grab the tomatoes one-by-one and place them into the ice bath.
5. The tomato skins will shrivel, and can be peeled right off the tomatoes with your fingers. Throw the peels away or compost them.
6. Set the tomatoes aside until later.

Part two: build the sauce

1. Chop all of your vegetables. I use a mix of chop sizes, but you do you.
2. Pour the two tablespoons of olive oil into your large stock pot. Place it over medium-high heat.
3. Once the olive oil is shimmery, throw in your chopped onions and peppers along with your garlic and chopped basil (if using). Season the vegetables with celery salt, or regular salt and pepper.
   
   
   
4. Let the vegetables simmer for about ten minutes, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon.
5. Add the peeled tomatoes to the pot. Just chuck ’em in there.
   
   
6. Use your wooden spoon to break the tomatoes up. They’ll get easier to smash as they warm up. Let them cook in the veggie mix for about twenty minutes, occasionally mashing them with your spoon.
7. Your sauce should now look like a weak tomato soup. It will get stronger.
   
   
8. Add the tomato paste, balsamic vinegar, herbs, and spices to the sauce.
9. Use an immersion blender to blend the sauce to your preferred consistency. If you don’t have an immersion blender you can batch the sauce into a regular blender.
10. Turn the heat to medium-low and simmer the sauce for at least another 20-30 minutes. It should thicken considerably as time goes on. If it does not thicken enough, simmer it longer or thicken it by adding a tablespoon or two of sifted flour or corn starch.
11. Et voila! Your homemade tomato sauce is ready to go. We usually use it in a lasagna, but you can take it anywhere you want to. Enjoy!