Courses: Sauces and Dips

Tart and Tangy Cranberry Sauce

Tart and Tangy Cranberry Sauce

Are you in charge of the cranberry sauce for next week’s feast?  You can have this tart and tangy cranberry sauce whipped up in 15 minutes and it can be made ahead of time and frozen to just heat up for later.  Make it this weekend and have 

Minute Mayonnaise

Minute Mayonnaise

Creamy delicious homemade one minute mayonnaise. No lie, this literally takes one minute and that includes the time to grab every ingredient outta the fridge and put in the mixing jar.  Are you sold on it yet?  If not… this even eliminates the step of separating the 

Homemade Tomato Sauce

Homemade Tomato Sauce

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When life (or your garden) gives you lots of tomatoes, you make tomato sauce! Homemade tomato sauce is so simple to make and has a depth of flavor you just can’t match in a can. Think of those rich, thick tomatoes, that sweet sensuous taste coupled with a hint of garlic and onion to round it out and, man, your tastebuds will dance!  This tomato sauce is the PERFECT base for a soup, or really any Italian/Mexican/Indian dish that utilizes a tomato based sauce.

So check this out…. just get yourself a boatload of tomatoes from your garden, or the farmer’s market or the supermarket – wherever you can find luscious tasty ripe ones – and toss the whole lot of them cored and cut into quarters in a large saucepan. Add a couple onions, a head of garlic cloves and some salt and cook til they’re soft.

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A simple puree with an immersion/stick blender and you’re done!  Easy peasy. Look at this fancy swirly action food photo….

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After blending, you’ll have a beautiful, nutritious, homemade tomato sauce perfect for your next cooking task.  You can certainly can the sauce, or I usually just freeze it since I use it so fast. Plus, freezing is easier if you have the freezer space. It’s a bit liquidy (not an official word, I know) which makes it awesome for soups.  If you need it thicker for, say, a marinara sauce, cook it longer until it condenses a bit or add some tomato paste to thicken it up.

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Homemade Tomato Sauce
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Recipe type: Sauces and Dips
Cuisine: vegetarian, paleo
Serves: about 3 quarts
Ingredients
  • 10-12 pounds tomatoes, cored and quartered (this does not need to be exact, just fill up your stock pot nearly to the top!)
  • 2 medium onions, quartered
  • 1 head of garlic, cloves peeled
  • 1 tablespoon pink himalayan salt (or optional to taste)
Instructions
  1. Place all ingredients in a large (like 8 quart) stockpot.
  2. Stirring occasionally, cook on medium heat until garlic and onions are softened.
  3. Puree until smooth.
Notes
If you're daring, add an habanero to the mix for a slightly spiced sauce.
Sauce can be frozen or canned.
To can via water bath, add 1 Tbsp lemon juice to each pint or 2 Tbsp lemon juice to quarts. Fill sterile jars with sauce to ½" headspace. Wipe rim, add lid and ring until finger tight. Submerge in boiling water 35 minutes for pints, 40 minutes for quarts. Let cool for 12-24 hours and be sure each jar has sealed before storing.

Yield will vary on how long you cook the sauce.
Nutrition Information
Serving size: 1 cup Calories: 60 Fat: 1g Carbohydrates: 13g Sodium: 49mg Fiber: 4g Protein: 3g

 

Creamy Caramel Sauce

Creamy Caramel Sauce

Okaaaaayyy….. after posting about rich moist chocolately blueberry espresso brownies last week, how could I possibly resist making a creamy caramel sauce to go with, well, rich vanilla ice cream and maybe those brownies on the side?  Too much to resist!  Let me tell you,