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| Garden Bounty |
Yesterday I was faced with that very dilemma. I had a bunch of very ripe tomatoes, but not quite enough to justify bringing out the canning jars and the canner. So, I decided to make a batch of spaghetti sauce to freeze. Now I have made quick pasta sauces plenty of times, some good, some not so good. This time, though, I wanted an authentic, rich, flavorful Italian tomato sauce.
I ended up with a tomato sauce that simply blew my mind, and taste buds, to previously unknown heights (a little melodramatic, I know...but the sauce really is that good!). Oh. My. Gawd! I wanted to sit down with a bowl of the sauce, and eat it just like a bowl of ice cream. And just how did I manage to achieve this level of tomato nirvana, you might ask?
I had a guardian angel to guide me through every step of the way. The one and only Lidia Bastianich, channeled through her book Lidia's Family Table (recipe 'Simple Tomato Sauce' page 132). The woman is the Goddess of Italian cooking, in my opinion.
I have to confess that I did make a couple of minor changes to the recipe, but that was mainly because I didn't have some of the exact ingredients(or exact proportions) that was called for in the recipe. The main change I made was using fresh garden tomatoes, and a bit of tomato paste, instead of the canned San Marzano that Lidia uses. Other than that I stayed pretty true to the recipe.
Due to copyright concerns, I will not be posting the recipe but I do urge everyone to try the recipe for themselves. So, go out there and hit up your local library or bookstore and find that book. You won't be sorry, I promise.
