Here in Asheville people like to talk about living in the now but that’s pretty hard to do when merchants are always rushing the next season at us. It is the middle of summer and the food magazines at the check-out line are pushing cozy fall dishes.

Meanwhile the reality is that your basil plants are getting leggy and woody and going to flower. Your two (or three) tomato plants have decided to ripen all of the tomatoes on the vine at the same time. And if your CSA basket holds one more onion you will have no place left in the bin to store them. Feels like the height of the growing season to me

It’s time for tomato sauce. Which sauce depends on how many tomatoes you want to use up. This recipe takes a lot of tomatoes. It’s a deep red concentrated sauce, packed with tomato flavor. I make it all summer long when I am overwhelmed with my garden’s bounty and freeze it to enjoy in the winter months (when pasta and carbs are needed to combat the winter weather).

We start with tomatoes: juicy, ripe, red tomatoes. Cut them in half around the middle and give them a good squeeze to remove the seeds.

You can leave the skins on but the seeds add bitterness and unneeded water. Chop them roughly and toss them in a big pan. Start them cooking to soften a bit while you gather everything else.

Go out to the garden (if you have one) and grab a big bunch of fresh basil. Tear the leaves off the stems and throw them in with the tomatoes.

Finely chop a couple of large onions and crush some garlic.

Soften them in a skillet and add them to the tomatoes. Pour in some wine and let the whole thing simmer for about two hours.

You know its going to be good when it starts this pretty!

The tomatoes will have broken down and the sauce should have thickened some.

Put a large sieve over a big bowl or pot and, using a rubber spatula to scrape the tomato meat through the sieve, puree the mixture. Anything that won’t go through, skins, onion pieces, yellow unripened bits of tomato, gets tossed.

Put the juices back over the stove top and add some tomato paste. After a final reduction to achieve the thickness you want, taste it and add salt as needed.

Pure tomato bliss!

SUMMER FRESH TOMATO BASIL SAUCE

Ingredients

18 fresh tomatoes
1 cup fresh basil leaves
2 large onions
2-4 garlic cloves
1 cup dry white wine
½ cup olive oil
Salt and pepper
6-8 tbsp tomato paste

Instructions

Cut the tomatoes in half around the middle and squeeze out the seeds. Chop them roughly and put them in a pot over medium low heat.
Roughly tear the leaves of a bunch of basil and add to the tomatoes.
Chop the onions and garlic finely.
Heat the oil in a sauté pan and cook the onions and garlic until they are soft.
Add the onion mixture to the tomatoes.
Add the wine and bring to a slow simmer.
Cook for 2 hours or until the tomatoes have disintegrated. Remove from the heat and pass through a sieve, pushing on the solids to extract as much of the goodness as possible.
Measure the sauce and place in a large pot. For every cup of sauce add one tablespoon of good quality tomato paste.
Bring to a boil and cook down to desired thickness. Season with salt and pepper.