Feast Your Eyes > Mangia Bene!

I'm pretty sure that means "eat well" in italian, if not, well I am very sorry to any people or persons that I've offended...but Eat Well!!

Fall is here and sadly that means the end is near for of all those yummy fresh goodies from the garden. I snagged these beauties from my a garden just in the nick of time:

I decided the summer needed a proper send off with some beyond amazing, fresh tomato, spaghetti sauce! I started with lots of roma tomatoes which I seeded and chopped. I didn't peel them as I have no shame in admitting that I'm a lazy chef, or as I like to say, a "smart and easy" cooking chef, or "smeazy" for short.

So Pretty!

I then sauteed fresh minced garlic, white onion, and some seeded fresno peppers in some homemade basil garlic oil (I don't even know what got into me that day!). I then added the diced romas, and some italian herbs and seasonings and let it simmer in all its goodness for around three heavenly smelling hours. It was a little chunky at the end; and there's definitely not that anything wrong about being a little chunky (!!); but I was looking for a thinner sauce this time around, so I whipped out my handy emulsion blender and pureed it a little in the pot.

**Note: Have the lid handy and remove pot from heat as you do this, or you will give yourself a hot tomato sauce facial; which may or may not be what you were expecting...Who knows, you may be a better multi tasker than me!

 

I then cooked up some whole wheat spaghetti at about half the cook time and added enough of the fabulous sauce to thoroughly coat the noodles and put it back on the burner on medium heat (I left the remainder of the sauce to hang out, and used it as a little red bed for the finished spaghetti). As it cooked I used a pasta spoon to continually lift the spaghetti, which gives the pasta a creamy volume to it. Just as it was about done, I drizzled in some of the amazing basil oil from earlier. The basil oil is also very naughty on crusty french bread. 

And then we ate. And ate. And ate.

  I'm still full.

Glossy's Fresh Roma Sauce:

2  to 3lbs - fresh roma tomatoes

1 - medium onion

3 to 4 - Fresno Peppers

2- cloves of garlic, minced

Salt and Pepper to taste

Fresh Italian herbs or 1 to 2 t. of the dried blend.

1- 16oz package of spaghetti (I used whole wheat)

Saute onion, garlic pepper until just tender in basil oil. Add diced and seeded tomatoes and simmer 3 to 4 hours. In a separate pot cook spaghetti until half done, drain, and add enough sauce to coat noodles. Return to medium heat and cook till noodles are "al dente", having asborbed the added sauce. Add a tablespoon or so of basil oil at the end to finish. Take the remaining sacue and ladle a 1/2c. or so onto a plate and top with cooked spaghetti. Finish with some shaved parmesan.

Basil Oil

1- bunch of fresh basil

2 - cloves of garlic

2 1/2c. extra virgin olive oil

Heat oil on low until warm. Add basil and garlic and heat (on low!) for 10 min. Remove from heat and steep for another 10 to 20 min. Strain out basil and garlic. Store in fridge when not in use.

Happy eating!

~Angela, aka "Chef Smeazy"