White Currant Tomato
I meant to write this post last summer, but I was busy writing a children’s book about butterflies instead, The Butterfly Ball. Now that the tomatoes are ripening I am currently canning roasted marinara sauce. I have been wanting to share a few tips with you that came from a cooking school in Italy.
In the winter I started my roma tomatoes indoors and then moved them outside after the last frost. Much to my surprise and delight our heirloom white currant tomato plant from last year reseeded itself with abundance! Their sweetness makes delicious tomato sauce without needing to add any sugar to the recipe.
I have never been to Italy, but two of our sons traveled to Italy several years ago. While there they attended a cooking class on how to make tomato sauce. This particular culinary school placed whole tomatoes into a blender. They did not peel nor did they core the tomatoes. I figured if the Italians did it this way then I would, too. So ever since then I use whole tomatoes in my sauces and they are delicious. There have also been numerous scientific studies proving that tomato skins and seeds are rich in lycopene and other carotenoids (β-carotene).
I roast my ingredients in my Dutch oven for about 40 minutes (NOT including my herbs – even though the basil is shown in this picture). The Italian cooking school said to wait to the very end of cooking to add your herbs. In my Dutch oven I roast the tomatoes, garlic, and a small beet from my garden for both extra nutrition and a beautiful color. After roasting the ingredients I process them through my blender.
The roasted sauce then simmers on low until it reaches the consistency we like for our marinara sauce. I add the fresh herbs from our garden just before pouring the sauce into my canning jars. I hope these are helpful tips for your home grown tomato sauce.
Happy gardening!
