"Secret" Family Recipe
Conversation at Home Depot last May-
J: Should we put a tomato plant in the garden since we aren't big tomato eaters?
D: Let's just get one and that way we will have just a couple for some salsa
Guess I need to stop fertilizing.......
Last weekend this was our "bounty" with still tons of green tomatoes still on the single plant. So we either needed to find a way to preserve them or set up a road side stand.
Derek's family is Italian and they love to make their own sauce so we had the idea to use the family recipe and all the tomatoes to make some homemade pasta sauce to freeze for nights we don't feel like cooking.
Some background on and Derek and my cooking styles- Derek is not a big recipe follower. A little bit of this, toss in some of that etc. No measuring cups or spoons are needed when Derek is cooking. I, on the other hand, like to follow recipes closely. I like to have them come out the same way every time and have been described by my husband as a "chemist" in the kitchen with all the measuring I do.
OK now that you have background, I bet you can guess how the family recipe was given to us. Yep totally in Derek's style.
J- How much onion should I chop?
D- I dunno....my mom said a lot
J- How much is a lot? Like how many cups? Or even how many onions?
D- Don't know....chop up one more and that looks right.
J- What do you mean it looks right....how do you know that your definition of "a lot" and your moms is the same?
D- Trust me
So we boiled, chopped, smushed, mixed and simmered. The house smelled awesome all day. And I have to admit it tasted awesome too. Which works out well considering this is what our beer fridge freezer now contains-
No more Ragu for us! I would post the recipe but as you can see from above it probably would not do you much good. I am sure there are tons of awesome ones online and overall this was a great way to spend some time on a Sunday preserving food.
But as of tonight here is our counter again-
Maybe salsa next???
J: Should we put a tomato plant in the garden since we aren't big tomato eaters?
D: Let's just get one and that way we will have just a couple for some salsa
Guess I need to stop fertilizing.......
Last weekend this was our "bounty" with still tons of green tomatoes still on the single plant. So we either needed to find a way to preserve them or set up a road side stand.Derek's family is Italian and they love to make their own sauce so we had the idea to use the family recipe and all the tomatoes to make some homemade pasta sauce to freeze for nights we don't feel like cooking.
Some background on and Derek and my cooking styles- Derek is not a big recipe follower. A little bit of this, toss in some of that etc. No measuring cups or spoons are needed when Derek is cooking. I, on the other hand, like to follow recipes closely. I like to have them come out the same way every time and have been described by my husband as a "chemist" in the kitchen with all the measuring I do.
OK now that you have background, I bet you can guess how the family recipe was given to us. Yep totally in Derek's style.
J- How much onion should I chop?
D- I dunno....my mom said a lot
J- How much is a lot? Like how many cups? Or even how many onions?
D- Don't know....chop up one more and that looks right.
J- What do you mean it looks right....how do you know that your definition of "a lot" and your moms is the same?
D- Trust me
So we boiled, chopped, smushed, mixed and simmered. The house smelled awesome all day. And I have to admit it tasted awesome too. Which works out well considering this is what our beer fridge freezer now contains-
No more Ragu for us! I would post the recipe but as you can see from above it probably would not do you much good. I am sure there are tons of awesome ones online and overall this was a great way to spend some time on a Sunday preserving food.
But as of tonight here is our counter again-
Maybe salsa next???