Special Stewed Tomatoes

Boo54's Note:

I have a lot of fresh tomatoes from my garden, and since I made sauce last year, I thought I'd do stewed this year. Alas, I didn't find any recipes that really "floated my boat"...so as usual, I combined a few I found and came up with this, and I must say, I'm pretty darn proud of it! For once, I actually wrote down the ingredients! I admit, there's a bit of prep time with the chopping, but if you're like me, you'll enjoy it, and it's worth it. Anyway, I'll be interested to see if others like it as much as I do...let me know! (Notes: you can play around with the amounts of OO & butter, I like a bit of each; also, for sure play with the brown sugar -- that's the key to getting it just how you like it!)

• Total Time: 1 hrs 30 mins
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 8

• 8 -10 ripe tomatoes (blanched, peeled & cut in eighths)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 ½ tablespoons butter
• 2 stalks celery , chopped
• 1 small yellow onion , chopped
• ½ green pepper , finely chopped
• 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt (or to taste)
• 1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper (or to taste)
• basil and oregano (optional, but I use them, to taste)
• ½ cup dry white wine (or beer)
• 2 -4 teaspoons brown sugar (again, to taste)

Directions:

1. Blanche the tomatoes in boiling water for 60-90 seconds, then douse with cold water, and peel. Remove cores, and cut into eighths (save the juice for the pan!).
2. In a large saucepan, melt butter, and add olive oil, on medium heat.
3. Add onion and celery, and saute on medium until soft (about 10 minutes).
4. Add green pepper, salt, pepper, basil and/or oregano, and saute another 5-10 minutes.
5. Add tomatoes, and stir well. Cook on medium for about 5 minutes.
6. Mix white wine with brown sugar, then stir into mixture. Cook for 15 minutes on medium-low heat before tasting -- add more brown sugar if needed.
7. Continue simmering on med-low heat (I use 3, electric) for 45-60 minutes (depending on how thick you like it) stirring occasionally.
8. Enjoy!