Green Tomato Sauce

It's official. Fall is here and my tomato harvest is officially over. Okay, it's been over for a few weeks now, but I've finally gotten around to harvesting the green tomatoes off of the plants before cleaning the beds up for the winter.

I have lost all hope that these green tomatoes will turn red. And unfortunately, with the rainier and cooler August and September that we had, there are lots and lots of green tomatoes. So, what to do with all these completely green (and only partially ripened) tomatoes? Well, I decided to make some tomato sauce.  Now you might think that to do this you need to combine ripe tomatoes with a small quantity of green tomatoes, but that's really not the case. In fact, I used 100% green and partially ripened tomatoes and the sauce tasted fantastic!

I jarred some of it for use this week and portioned the rest in freezer proof containers for a quick meal. It's great tossed with any type of pasta. I usually toss some fresh kale or spinach into the mix and let it just wilt down. Top it with some fresh Parmesan cheese and it is a quick and delicious meal!

Green Tomato Sauce

Makes lots!

1 tbsp Olive Oil

3 cloves Garlic, minced

1 Large Onion, finely chopped

12 Green Tomatoes/ Partially ripened Tomatoes, diced with skin and seeds

1 tbsp Dried Basil

2 tbsp Tomato Paste

1 tbsp Sugar

Salt & Pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium high heat.  Add the garlic and onions and cook for 2-3 minutes until fragrant. Add the diced tomatoes and basil and cook for about 5-7 minutes until the tomatoes start to breakdown. Add the tomato paste, sugar, and a generous amount of salt and pepper. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for about 30 minutes, until the sauce thickens. Remove from heat.

At this point, you could choose to leave the sauce chunky as it is or use a blender or hand blender to puree until smooth. You can use it right away with your favorite pasta or cool it completely and store in the fridge or freezer for use later.