I love the summer because it means that I get to use produce from my garden. During the winter, I am too cheap to spend outrageous amounts of money on those small plastic packs of Basil. During the nice months, all I have to do is walk outside and pluck up what I need! Add to that an abundance of tomatoes and you have yourself a quick-n-easy summer sauce.
The secret to a quick sauce is that it doesn’t have any dry herbs or spices that require time to mellow and blend. The ingredients list is short and can be altered to your tastes.
Evoo – Large “glug”
Onion – 1/2 to 1
Garlic – 4 cloves
Tomatoes – 1 lb
Basil – 1/2 packed cup
Parsley – 1/2 packed
Diced tomatoes – 1 can
Salt & Pepper – To taste
Cut your tomatoes first. Sharpen your knife and go to town. I prefer a chunky sauce so this is the kind of cut that I use. If your like a smooth sauce, you can either cook the tomatoes down longer or blend it with an immersion (stick) blender.
Again, I use a small dice on the onions so that they soften quickly. You can dice them while the EVOO is heating in your skillet.
Once your onions are soft, crush the garlic and lit it saute with the onions for a minute or two.
Then add the tomatoes and allow to simmer for about 5 minutes.
While the tomatoes are simmering, chop your basil and parsley. When the tomatoes have softened to a sauce-like consistency… add the basil and parsley and the can of diced tomatoes.
Your sauce is now ready to serve.
If you are going to use this sauce with meatballs, you will want to simmer it for about 30 minutes with the meatballs in order to finish them off. It helps to add complexity of flavor and reduce the sweetness if you add a couple of bay leaves.
A quick reminder of how that might look!
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