One of the nicest ways to use up a flood of garden tomatoes, is to make a splendid fresh pasta sauce! Above are pictured the main ingredients, all of them from the garden except for the sausage of course, which is Archer Farms chicken mushroom, organic sausage. I used somewhere between 6 and 8 pounds of our tomatoes, peeled, cored, and mostly seeded. I never kill myself getting every last speck of seed and pulp from them. Then the tomatoes - 3 different varieties - were torn into small pieces. Our onion and newly harvested garlic were chopped and sauteed in olive oil first, then the fresh tomatoes, chopped sausage, and the chopped basil were added to the pot. Next come seasonings that you like. I used about 2 Tbs. red wine vinegar, 1 Tbs. succanat for sweetener, 1 Tbs. dried oregano, 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes, salt and pepper to taste.Let this simmer for a while to develop flavor. Depending on your preference and the amount of time you have before you serve the sauce, you can thicken it up in a few different ways. One is to let it cook down until it thickens (this could take a while), the next is to add a little cornstarch dissolved in a small amount of water (this is what is in a packet of spaghetti seasoning), or you can add a can (or less) of tomato paste. For this batch of sauce I did a combination. I added a can of paste since I like the contrast of that to the fresh tomatoes, and I simmered it for about 30 minutes while waiting for DH to finish the Friday night mowing - fun, fun job! It came out just great and what a difference a fresh tomato makes!
