Even this time of year, canned tomatoes often work best for sauce -- you can mix in some fresh tomatoes, but good quality canned tomatoes, San Marzano typically preferred but get real San Marzano from Italy if you go that route not San Marzano style. I don't use a crockpot but with all respect to the pp cooking tomatoes on high for a few hours seems a bit unusual, though it may work fine.

I made a great sauce (if I do say so myself) in the crockpot yesterday. Diced (not too tiny though) fresh tomatoes, garlic, diced fresh basil leaves, sauteed onion, salt, pepper, oregano. Cooked on high a few hours, then on low a few hours while I was out. It's still a bit chunky, and I prefer it that way, but if you wanted you could run it through a blender afterwards.

LOVE my crockpot.

Anonymous wrote:I think it's funny that people still call it "spaghetti" sauce.

I thought that was funny too. Almost like how my MIL calls all pasta "macaroni". But that's less funny and more annoying.

I think it's funny that people still call it "spaghetti" sauce.

I've tried this and love it.

http://www.newitalianrecipes.com/tomato-sauce.html

i was watching a cooking show (maybe giada?) where they said to just use canned/jarred tomatoes too. something about the flavor being more intense.

i simmer canned crushed tomatoes with onion, garlic, basil, carrot, bell pepper/celery and ground turkey and sometimes add a spoonful of better than boullion. it's easy to slip in veggies, so i try to take advantage of the opportunity.

I would only use fresh tomatoes if they are very ripe plum tomatoes. "Salad" tomatoes are not meaty and flavorful enough, and often make an insipid sauce. An esteemed Italian chef once told me it's better to just go ahead and used good canned plum tomatoes.

/drool now I think I have to make some sauce. I have zucchini to use up, and it works well in a rich, red-winey tomato sauce with lots of chunks of onion, garlic, and green pepper.

Anonymous wrote:Great! I think I'll give that a try. Thank you!

One tip that is very important...make sure you use very ripe, tomatoes. The better qualify tomatoes (firm, but very juicy and sweet) make better quality sauce. If you get tomatoes that are pink with relatively little juice, you will get a very wimpy flat sauce. If you can't get very ripe meaty tomatoes, then you'll do better to get canned tomatoes (get whole canned tomatoes) and drain them for your sauce.

It may be obvious, but I wouldn't want to see you come back with a "what did I do wrong?" post because you used the only tomatoes you could find and they were pink and hard.

Great! I think I'll give that a try. Thank you!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a recipe I made up a couple of months ago. It is in no way an authentic Italian sauce, just what I like.

Sauté chopped onions in evoo. Add fresh, chopped garlic. Throw in peeled and quartered tomatoes. Add sundried tomatoes. Add a couple cups of chicken broth. Let it cook until the tomatoes are completely broken down. I like my sauce thick, so I cook it down for a while.

Will this recipe work without the sundried tomatoes?

Of course! We just like them in the sauce but I'm sure it would taste good without them.

Anonymous wrote:This is a recipe I made up a couple of months ago. It is in no way an authentic Italian sauce, just what I like.

Sauté chopped onions in evoo. Add fresh, chopped garlic. Throw in peeled and quartered tomatoes. Add sundried tomatoes. Add a couple cups of chicken broth. Let it cook until the tomatoes are completely broken down. I like my sauce thick, so I cook it down for a while.

Will this recipe work without the sundried tomatoes?

I really like mine - cut the tomatoes in quarters, or halves if they are plum tomatoes, throw in the cherry size whole. Throw them into a roasting dish of some kind at least 2 inches deep. Toss in bunch of cloves of garlic, salt, pepper, rosemary if you want. Add an onion if you like onion. Pour on a few tablespoons olive oil. Roast in the over for a couple hours at 350 while you do other stuff. Grown ups like this as-in on pasta, but for kids, put it through a food mill and then cook down in a pot till it is a thickness you like.

I know this sounds like a big pain. If you do a big batch and freeze what you don't need that night it is a lifesaver in the winter. It also makes a nice soup - after it has been sent through the food mill add some cream.

PP here, I also add fresh, chopped basil while it's cooking. I top this with more fresh basil and fresh mozzarella with whole wheat pasta.

This is a recipe I made up a couple of months ago. It is in no way an authentic Italian sauce, just what I like.

Sauté chopped onions in evoo. Add fresh, chopped garlic. Throw in peeled and quartered tomatoes. Add sundried tomatoes. Add a couple cups of chicken broth. Let it cook until the tomatoes are completely broken down. I like my sauce thick, so I cook it down for a while.

Does anyone have a good recipe for homemade spaghetti sauce with fresh tomatoes?