Sugo di pomodoro

Homemade tomato sauce + other things to do with all those tomatoes

We have more tomatoes than we know what to do with.

We planted our tomato plants in our small Minneapolis garden in early June, and over the last few weeks, they have been ripening like mad. Maybe it’s all the rain we’ve had, or maybe we just got lucky, but this summer’s plants are particularly prolific. Each morning, there are three or four new beefsteak tomatoes and pocketfuls of smaller Roma tomatoes ready to be harvested.

We’ve been eating the big, round, and juicy beefsteak tomatoes like crazy—thickly sliced, drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled with salt, and adorned with basil. If we feel indulgent, we top them with a dollop of burrata. We’ve made pomodori ripieni di riso—rice-stuffed tomatoes—a few times. We’ve rubbed our fair share of garlic on toasted bread and eaten bruschette al pomodoro.

It was time to do something with the Roma tomatoes, though. These small, egg-shaped tomatoes have a lot of flesh but little juice, so they are not well-suited for slicing and eating but they are perfect for cooking down into tomato sauce.

Called sugo al pomodoro fresco in Italian, our favorite homemade tomato sauce recipe is the simplest one - just four ingredients: tomatoes, olive oil, salt, and basil. Fresh and light, it is a perfect way to dress pasta.

We make big batches and freeze them in small containers so we can enjoy the flavors of summer all year long.

Ingredients

• 8-12 medium Roma tomatoes

• A dash or two of extra-virgin olive oil

• Salt

• 1 bunch of fresh basil

Instructions

1. Slice the tomatoes into quarters and place them in a saucepan. 

2. Cover and cook on medium-low heat until they deconstruct, approximately 15-20 minutes.

3. Pass the tomatoes through a food mill to remove the skin and any sinewy parts, then return them to a saucepan.  

4. Simmer over low heat with a dash of olive oil for another 20-30 minutes until the sauce has thickened. 

5. Salt to taste, and add the basil during the final few minutes of cooking.

6. Toss with your pasta of choice cooked al dente, and serve with a grating of Parmigiano Reggiano.