Back in September, I froze the last of our homegrown tomatoes. We had a great crop last year and had more than we could quickly use. I put about a dozen of them on sheet pans and put them right in the freezer. When they were solid, I vacuum-packed them. I was looking forward to fresh sauce in the middle of winter.
With a couple of feet of snow still on the ground, I think this classifies as “the middle of winter.” I pulled them out of the freezer last night and in my nicest voice I asked Victor if he wanted to make fresh sauce today while I was toiling away at work. My pathetic look worked. I came home to a simmering pot of outrageously perfect marinara. And it tasted fresh from the garden.
We never bother to peel tomatoes when we’re going to use them in sauce, but since these had been frozen, the peel slipped right off. An added bonus.
He cooked up some rigatoni and browned a couple of sausages and pork chops. Those he simmered in tonight’s dinner. The rest of the sauce went into the ‘fridge for another day.
Fresh tomato sauce – and the tomatoes didn’t have to travel – unripe and hard as a rock – half-way around the world.