I love homemade tomato sauce, but canning is no longer and never was my thing. Although not difficult, canning takes place in the hottest part of summer, when an avalanche of tomatoes come from the garden by the bushel and something must be done with them immediately, lest they spoil. That would be a travesty, a sin, especially among the grandmothers in my family. Learning to preserve the bounty of the garden was a rite of passage in their youth. They took canning almost as seriously as going to church on Sunday.
The last time I canned tomatoes was in the kitchen of a 1903 farmhouse in the midst of a 100-degree heat wave, grass so dry it snapped and crackled beneath my feet. I had no air conditioning. I canned tomatoes in my underwear. Really. My elders did the same back in the day, never complaining, for it was tradition, a duty, to can tomatoes and make chow chow or piccadilly relish in the brutal heat of a Virginia summer. Also, home-canned tomato sauce opened in the midst of a January snowstorm for a pot of chili comes as close to heaven as one can get.
Today, for tomato sauce, I choose a good brand of commercially canned tomatoes, such as Cento, said to contain sun-ripened tomatoes from the Italian region of Calabria. There are many other brands on the market to choose from as well.
Summer Tomato Sauce (Marinara)
- 1 cup olive oil
- ½ cup red wine
- 1Tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 Tablespoon Kosher salt
- 1 large can of whole, peeled tomatoes, undrained
- 1 large can of tomato puree
- ½ cup torn fresh basil
Cook onions and garlic until soft in olive oil. Add tomatoes, crushing them and stirring them. Add red wine, salt and brown sugar, turn off and let cool. Sprinkle with fresh basil. Use as a sauce for pasta or eggplant Parmesan.
About the Writer:
Rebecca Jackson is a veteran newspaper person/journalist based in Bedford County, VA. A native of California and an M.A. graduate of Arizona State University, she has a passion for pets (animals), good food/cooking, music, wine, horticulture, photography and travel.
