Fresh Sicilian Tomato Sauce

KeyWee's Note:

This is the recipe to have when your garden is bursting with overripe tomatoes. It is adapted from the Frugal Gourmet's Italian cookbook, but we won't talk about him now, will we?! I like this recipe when I don't feel like I could possibly peel or seed one more tomato - everything gets used but the cores! Freezes well.

• Total Time: 4 hrs 30 mins
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 4 hrs

Ingredients:

Yield: 4 quarts

• ¼ cup olive oil
• 6 cloves garlic (crushed)
• 2 medium onions (chopped)
• 9 cups ripe fresh tomatoes (, cored & chopped)
• 2 (28 ounce) cans diced tomatoes (undrained)
• 1 green pepper (chopped)
• ¼ cup fresh parsley (chopped)
• ½ cup sweet vermouth
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon rosemary
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• salt
• black pepper

Directions:

1. Heat oil in an 8-quart heavy bottom pot.
2. Saute garlic& onion until tender but not brown.
3. Add all remaining ingredients except salt& pepper.
4. Bring to a simmer and cook gently (uncovered) for 4 hours, stirring often.
5. Add salt& pepper as desired.

Reviews

[Chef Jeff S]

This was really good. I used this sauce with my regular 3-2-1 spaghetti sauce. Fantastic!

[RedVinoGirl]

EXCELLENT! I was inundated with tomatoes from two neighbors' gardens and didn't want them to go to waste. I came in search of a way to use them and chose this recipe. PERFECT! I had to sub white wine for the sweet vermouth but followed the rest as stated. I didn't blend it further as a previous reviewer did because I liked the texture of it after cooking it for 4 hours. I put them into freezer ziploc's to use as my staple sauce as needed for recipes. Wonderful and fresh!

[NurseJaney]

Perfect !! I was drawn by the name, since we recently visited Sicily -- but primarily because I had BUCKETS of plum tomatoes ! This was super simple to prepare, and a lovely saucy taste that will not fight with other flavors of your pasta. As soon as I removed from heat, used an immersion (stick) blender, and worked it only til chunky/smooth. I wanted to avoid freezing, so put a few casseroles together to freeze for later --"Baked Ziti" - frozen not tasted. I think I see another pile of tomatoes --(only 3 plants!) - so will do some more and freeze. Thanks for posting, KeyWee.