Just cause I need to talk about something else. Something normal and every day.
The heatwave last week really knocked our tomato plants around so PSLS decided to pick everything on them. As a result we ended up with a whole bucketful of ripe tomatoes at once.
We thought we’d have a go at making our own pasta sauce so trawled the internet for recipes before settling on one from the ABC.
First was had to put the tomatoes in boiling water for a minute to loosen the skin.
Then we pulled them out, peeled them and diced them.
This step was a bit messy. I found that the best thing to do was to balance the cutting board over the sink with a bowl underneath to catch the juices.
Meantime we diced up some freshly picked white onions from the garden.
Browned them off with a little olive oil and some garlic,
and chucked everything else in. Including a couple of cups of grated up zucchini – also picked fresh from the garden. Then we let it simmer for a half hour.
It smelt divine. And everyone was pleased with the taste once we got the seasonings right.
So far we have six servings in the freezer, next to the latest batch of grated zucchini.
The first batch was cooked up and eaten on Monday night for tea and everyone was quite pleased with it.
A friend rang up tonight wanting to know if we’d like some more tomatoes……… I think I’ll be taking her up on that. I’m sure I can squeeze another couple of containers into the freezer! 
mmm looks delicious and all home grown.. impressive!
Still waiting for our tomatoes to ripen here… but have started the zucchini glut… going to try your grating and freezing method this year, anything special I need to do to them?
I’ve been feeling the same – the need to focus on something else right now. It’s a coping mechanism I guess.
I’m a slack cooker – just bung all my tomatoes in and cook them, skins and all (well, I do cut them up a little). A few skins get taken off while they’re cooking (those that rise to the top) and a few more when I’m actually using them (I tend to freeze my cooked tomatoes and substitute for tinned tomatoes in my bolognese though rather than a ready made sauce in the freezer).
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I swear the aroma of that just blew out of my computer screen at me. Mmmm… Great pics! You should write an illustrated cookbook!
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I am like Lightening, I can never be bothered de-skinning the tomatoes.. You can just chop up the zucchini and freeze it in chunks it if you cant be bothered grating it, it cooks up the same. Because I dont have a proper oven, I cook on top of the wood heater. I soon worked out what froze well and what didn’t, so that I wasn’t slaving over a hot fire making chutney or sauce on a hot day.. I could make jam or whatever when the weather cooled down.. I freeze tomatoes with chopped onion and garlic in snap lock bags and use that as a base for any number of sauces.. Thanks for posting this Bettina it has inspired me to do something with the half-case of tomatoes I have here on the table …
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That looks mouth wateringly yummy.
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Looks wonderful. I made panzanella with tomatoes yesterday. This is close to the recipe I used http://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipe/53/Panzanella but I didnt bake the bread
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Looks yummy, you lucky gardener gal, you
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I guess it is according to where a person lives. My homegrown ‘maters usually end up as salsa.
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Thanks for visiting my site. From a quick scout around your place I can see I need to come back. Your pasta sauce looks luv-er-ley.
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Mmmm yum. My tomato plant died in the recent heat but I will have to bookmark that recipe for next year.
My home grown tomatoes often get eaten while I’m wandering around the garden looking at other stuff. Some of them make it into the fridge for salads and sandwiches. I did manage to freeze about three cups of green beans this year.
Looks delicious!!!! Can’t wait to try something similar myself!!
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Looks amazing – there is nothing like home made pasta sauce.
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That sauce looks yummy. I’m gonna give it a go – still got buckets of tomatoes.
If you like mustard pickles, I have a great recipe. It uses a kilo of zucchini, and tastes just like the bought one. Great for those zucchini gluts.