By George! I thinks she's got it!
So, my wife, by her own admission, is not the greatest cook. Not because she can't cook, but because she just really hates cooking. So the other day we get a ridiculous amount of over-grown, seedy tomatoes from our neighbor's garden. And what does my wife do? SHE PROCEEDS TO MAKE ONE OF THE BEST TOMATO SAUCES EVER PRODUCED OUTSIDE OF ITALY!
Now, I showed her how to make red sauce years and years ago and she does a pretty good job. The great thing about this one was the amount of patience (not her stongest trait in cooking) she demonstated in creating this masterpiece.
I know most of you have been swamped with truckloads of tomatoes from neighbors who rushed to get them in before last weeks ice-age (AL GORE WAS RIGHT! AAAHHH! I NEED MORE KOOL-AID!). So here's the method (I hate recipes; they're for bakers.)
First you've got to get rid of the skin, seeds and "seed slime". Over grown neighbor's garden tomatoes will have alot of this. Here's the trick for free(it cost me 50G's at culinary school):
Bring some water to boil in a nice big pot. Fill the left side, or non-disposal side of your sink with icy cold water (you'll want the disposal free for obvious reasons.) Now, your going to give the tomatoes a QUICK dip in the water and then into the ice water. You do not want them sitting in there like a bunch of retirees at camperworld camp ground jacuzzi. We don't want to cook the tomatoes yet, just get them to jump out of their skin. (Side note: To me this sounds like a perfectly acceptable form of terrorist questioning.) If the water is rapidly boiling, the terrorists, ah, I mean, tomatoes should only need about 20 seconds in the hot tub before getting the ice bath. Depending on how many terror-I mean, tomatoes you need to blanch and shock (fancy culinary term) you may need to bring the water back to a boil for each batch.
Now the tomatoes should practically peel themselves. To get the seeds and seed slime out you need to slice the tomatoes (if your still thinking about terrorists everytime I refer to tomatoes and giggling, don't worry, so am I) around the equator in half. Now you should be able to squish the seeds and slime out of the little chambers in each half. Of course your not going to be able to get all of them, but do your best.
Now you have a nice pile of tomato flesh. This is the key to any good tomato sauce. In nice thick bottomed pot, heat some good olive oil (add as much as you think is good and then add another cup, yes I'm serious, and trust me) and add a finely diced yellow onion. Allow the onion to sit around in the hot oil for a while and really start to caramelize, turning soft and nice and brown around the edges. Now crush up one half of a tomato and toss it in. Your going to let the tomato do the same as the onion. Really give it some good color, don't worry about burning it, you want the nice black stuff on the bottom of the pan. Now add the rest of the tomatoes and stir them around a bit to release the fond (**culinary term alert**) from the bottom of the pan.
Now depending the moisture content of your particular tomatoes, you may want to add a little water so they have a some way to circulate the heat. Give them a stir and wait until they get hot and start to bubble here and there. Turn the heat down enough that they won't scorch, but not so low the top stays stays cold and won't cook. (In my early cooking days, I actually acheived both of those with a huge pot of alfredo, it wasn't pretty.)
Now here's the most important part, LEAVE IT ALONE! No garlic powder, dried oregano, dried this, powdered that, sugar, whatever. The transformation that will take place over the next several, yes I said several, hours is nothing short of miraculous. Occasionally, a nice stir to make sure it's not scorching is all you'll need to do for the next few hours. Depending on the tomatoes, some more water may be necessary. Don't worry, water can always be removed by cooking it longer. There really is no limit to how long you can let this cook, and really, it just gets better and better. The yield on this sauce is somewhere around 50% from the original amount of terrorists, ah, tomatoes, so keep that in mind when you start.
After 5-6 hours it will be extremely thick and dark red. Taste it for salt ( it will be extremely sweet) and adjust it accordingly. I like to stir in another swig or three of olive oil and some chopped fresh basil (NO DRIED) if we are going to eat it immediately. Don't add the basil if your not eating right away, it gets bitter, black and stringy.
Do yourself a favor and stop by Costco and pick up some really crusty bread and a $18 wedge of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. Just do it. Trust me.