First tomato sauce of the season today!

[David M. Bueker]

Made the first batch. CSA tomatoes come in big quantities in late August. First batch of pesto from local basil and local garlic comes tonight.

Now if it would just cool off a bit.

[Robin Garr]

Ah, you northerners! Mary just announced the other day that we're running out of freezer room because of tomato sauce, even though she's been freezing it in individual servings in Zip-Loc bags so they'll lie flat.

Any special tips or tricks to your sauce technique, David? We generally use a variation on a simple Marcella technique: Cut the tomatos into chunks and simmer them in their own juices with fresh basil leaves and some chunks of onion and garlic just long enough for the tomatoes to cook, then let cool and run through a Foley food mill. If we want to make long-simmered Italian "gravy," we can always use some of this sauce as a base for that, but I think it's a lot more flexible (and delicious) to keep the basic stock as fresh and light as possible.

Ah, you northerners!

I was thinking the same thing. New England really has some 'special' seasons!

[David M. Bueker]

I use some oregano and thyme from my back yard herb garden as well Robin. Most of my sauce gets used for either topping pizza or a variation on ratatouille, so the extra herbs work well.