Fresh Tomato Sauce

This is a great sauce to eat with any prepared Italian dish. Or I just ate the leftovers by spoonful it was so good! The picture for this sauce is with the Eggplant Parmesan. It is not too hard to make, just make sure you give yourself time to let it simmer for about 40 minutes. I actually liked it better the next day once all the seasonings settled.

Fresh Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:

¼ cup olive oil

6-7 ripe tomatoes

¾ cup dicedcarrots

1 cup dicedcelery

2 clovesgarlic – minced

¼ sweet onion –chopped

2 bay leafs

½ to ¾ cup water

Dried oreganoand basil – about 1 tablespoon each

1-teaspoonsugar

3 dashes salt

2 dashespepper

Directions:

Heat olive oil in a Dutchoven or big pan. Add celery, onion and carrots. Let cook on medium low and stirfor 4-6 minutes. Add garlic and cook on low for 2 more minutes.

Cut shallow x’s at thebottom of each tomato to make the peeling process easier. Boil water in amedium saucepan. Once the water is boiling, add the tomatoes for 2 minutes.

Put ice and water in alarge bowl, add the tomatoes. Carefully peel the tomatoes and place in a foodprocessor. Pulse until a smooth/chucky consistency. Set tomatoes aside.

Put the celery/ carrot/onion mixture into food processor for 30 seconds and then put back into Dutchoven. Add tomatoes, water, bay leafs, oregano, basil, and sugar to the mixture.Simmer low for 35-45 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.