By: ALEXIS BLANDINE
There are many perks that come along with having your own garden. Organic produce, freshness, pride, and saving money. That last one really gets me, being on that college girl budget. Since my mom enjoys growing massive amounts of tomato plants in our backyard, I took it upon myself to take those tomatoes, and turn it into a “thin” tomato sauce. It’s summer, which means no one wants nana’s thick tomato sauce on their pasta so they feel stuffed by the end of the meal. Being so, I took a bunch of ingredients that I found around my yard, or ingredients you can easily find around your grocery store that use foods at their peak of the season-meaning they are the ripest, have the most nutrients, and taste the best. Ripe tomatoes are naturally sweet; I even found myself eating the tomatoes on their own as I was chopping them for this recipe. You may call this the Sweet and Saucy Tomato Sauce, I called it Thursday night’s dinner.Sweet and Saucy Tomato Sauce
- 2 T olive oil
- 5 ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 T fresh basil leaves, chopped (about 12 leaves)
- 2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp oregano
- 2 tsp black pepper
Heat oil in a pan and once heated, add garlic. Making sure the garlic doesn’t brown or burn (simply to flavor the oil) add 4 of the 5 chopped tomatoes and salt. Once tomatoes start to break down, add basil, pepper, oregano, and remaining tomatoes. Let that sit over the heat for another minute, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and enjoy.
I used this sauce over pasta, and it was amazing! Sprinkled with a little parmesan-you can never go wrong with some parmesan. I would suggest using a rigatoni, or shell pasta to get more of the sauce in every bite, however I used angel hair, and you will not hear a peep of complaints from me.
What’s your favorite kind of pasta?
Sealed with a kiss of Nutella,
Alexis
