Homemade tomato sauce

We planted our tomato plants in our small Minneapolis garden in early June, and over the last few weeks, they have been ripening like mad. This summer’s plants are particularly prolific – maybe it’s all the rain we’ve had. Each morning, there are three or four new beefsteak tomatoes and pocketfuls of smaller Roma tomatoes ready to be harvested.

We’ve been eating beefsteak tomatoes like crazy—thickly sliced, drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled with salt, and adorned with basil. If we are feeling indulgent, we top them with a dollop of burrata. We’ve made pomodori ripieni di riso—rice-stuffed tomatoes—a few times. We’ve eaten our fair share of bruschette al pomodoro.

It was time to do something with the Roma tomatoes, though. These small, egg-shaped tomatoes have a lot of flesh and little juice, making them less than ideal for slicing and eating, but perfect for cooking down into tomato sauce.

Called sugo al pomodoro fresco in Italian, our favorite homemade tomato sauce recipe is the simplest one – just four ingredients: tomatoes, olive oil, salt, and basil. Fresh and light, it is a perfect way to dress pasta in the summertime.

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Sugo di pomodoro

Yield: 4-6 pasta servings

Called sugo di pomodoro fresco in Italian, there are no canned tomatoes needed for this tomato sauce. Instead, it is made from the fresh, flavorful, tomatoes of summer. Fresh and light, it's the perfect way to dress pasta.

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Ingredients

• 8-12 medium Roma tomatoes
• 1 bunch of fresh basil
• 2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• Salt

Instructions

Slice the tomatoes into quarters and place them in a saucepan. 

Cover, and cook on the medium-low heat until they deconstruct, approximately 15-20 minutes.

Pass the tomatoes through a food mill to remove the skin and any sinewy parts, then return them to a saucepan.  

Simmer over low heat with a dash of olive oil for another 20-30 minutes until the sauce has thickened. 

Salt to taste, and add the basil during the final few minutes of cooking.

Toss together with your pasta of choice cooked al dente, and serve with a grating of Parmigiano Reggiano.

Notes

You will need a food mill to make sugo al pomodoro fresco. Our favorite is made by Oxo, and can be found in most kitchenware stores.

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