Name: Twenty Minute Simple Fresh Tomato Sauce
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 4 cups
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon olive oil; 5 cloves garlic (minced); 1 yellow onion (diced small); 1 teaspoon sea salt; 1/4 teaspoon black pepper; 1/4 cup tomato paste + 1/4 cup warm water; 1 cup filtered water; 5 cups tomatoes (diced medium {see notes}); 1 tablespoon fresh oregano (chopped); 1/4 cup fresh basil (julienned)

Twenty Minute Simple Fresh Tomato Sauce

My favorite thing to do with an abundance of tomatoes, is make fresh tomato sauce. This method has layered flavors that come together in ten minutes. A really easy, flavorful, fresh, summery tomato sauce in under twenty minutes.

July 6, 2016

mains

Fresh tomato sauce from fresh tomatoes in under twenty minutes.

I read an article recently about anxiety.

And how we have the ability to create self-soothing circuits.

We’re born without these.

And we build them with age as a way to survive.

Some of these circuits are positive, like meditating or cooking or talking to someone on the phone that we love. Others are {can be} negative. Like eating too much, drinking too much, numbing of any kind. For good or bad, I am certain that at least sixty-percent of my self-soothers consist of tomato sauce of some kind. Pizza, pasta, you understand where I’m going with this.

I don’t know a lot about everything.

But I do know at least a little bit about tomato sauce.

My best friend and her husband and their baby were visiting us last week. The days were hot and glorious. We spent them mostly in my backyard, eating and drinking, reminiscing and being present with one another. For seven days there was a constant series of ups and downs.

Wine and negroni soaked evenings. Hysterics of laughter and tears, sometimes simultaneously. Ramblings of past mistakes and current blessings. And quiet. The comfortable silence of just bring safe with one another.

There was a trip to the pet emergency room.

My cat is okay now.

There was a car accident.

Everyone is okay now.

They left. My insides felt empty. It was an emotional week. Life is beautiful. Life is hard. And the last seven days was a reminder that we’re all just doing the best we can. Sometimes it’s a great version of ourselves and sometimes it’s the worst. And all of that is okay.

I was seeking comfort on a primal level. I found myself craving fresh tomato sauce and eating it in some capacity with every meal. A lot of my meals in the summer look like this. A bowl of barely stewed veg, smothered in sauce with a portion of plant-based protein like beans or lentils. It’s like my Italian version of a hippie-dip grain bowl.

I make sauce almost every week, but not usually with fresh tomatoes. I save this experience strictly for the months of June thru September. I’ve been working on a quick, fresh tomato sauce that has layered flavor but uses minimal ingredients and steps.

This fresh tomato sauce doesn’t require any blanching. It’s just a chop and go and process kind of situation. It literally comes together in just fifteen minutes of cooking, but it tastes like it’s been simmering all day. This tomato sauce soothes my soul, and I hope it helps yours too whenever you’re in need.

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