POMMAROLA (SUMMER TOMATO SAUCE)







































This week I finally happened upon a bonanza of tomatoes. And of course, that means it's time for sauce.



My husband and I have been making the same tomato sauce since 1989 when we started dating and  cooking together. It's a recipe from one of the first cookbooks we bought as a couple, The Fine Art of Italian Cooking by Giuliano Bugialli. The book has come to be known simply as "the Bugialli" at our house. In addition to this wonderful and versatile sauce, Bugiali taught us many things like how to make proper pasta, for example, which prompted the purchase of a pasta maker -- the one we're still using, though the blades have been replaced, (I think we literally wore the thing out rolling homemade pasta for each other and for our friends at countless wine-soaked dinner parties back in our tiny Seattle apartment).

Pommarola or Summer Tomato Sauce is the recipe found on page 83 of "the Bugialli" and it's the one to make when summer winds down into fall; the tomatoes are ripe, abundant and inexpensive; and thoughts of stocking the freezer for winter come to mind. The recipe is simple and doesn't involve a lot of ingredients -- just fresh, ripe tomatoes and the classic Italian "odori" or aromatics  of carrot, celery, red onion (and garlic, if you prefer) that round out the flavor and help the tomatoes to sing.

When we have a lot of tomatoes, we make an enormous batch of this sauce and cook it down, sometimes for days, depending on the type of tomatoes and how thick we want the sauce to be. It simmers in the kitchen all day in our big, orange pots and cools overnight loosely covered. In the morning we return it to low heat to simmer again. If you start on Friday, it can bubble away while you do your weekend chores and you'll have the perfect sauce for Saturday or Sunday night dinner. Two or three days of simmering is ideal when we have the time. And if we don't, an hour or two produces a lovely sauce too.

You could add more garlic, fresh herbs, peppers, and other seasonings but since we freeze most of the sauce, we prefer to keep it rather basic so it's as versatile as possible when it comes out of the freezer. We process the finished sauce using a food mill to remove the skins and seeds. If you prefer a chunkier sauce, skip this step or just process half the sauce instead.

Pommarola tastes best when seasoned with just a little salt and pepper and finished with a knob of butter as a sauce for fresh, homemade pasta. It also works well in lasagna, as a base for tomato soup, as a pizza sauce, in chili, just about anything that calls for tomatoes.

POMMAROLA (SUMMER TOMATO SAUCE)

Serves 6

2 1/2 lbs tomatoes
1 medium red onion
1 large carrot
1 celery rib
1 small clove garlic, peeled (optional)
5 sprigs Italian parsley
3 basil leaves
salt to taste

Halve or quarter the tomatoes and add to a large, heavy-bottomed stock pot. (I like to use my biggest Le Creuset. The thick, heavy bottom is important so the sauce does not scorch. If you use a standard stainless stock pot, just stir more frequently and keep an eye on it.)

Cut the onion, carrot and celery into small pieces and add to the pot. Do not any oil or water.

Heat over medium heat, stirring frequently until the tomatoes start to break down and give up their juice.

Reduce heat to low and simmer simmer slowly for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. If you prefer a thicker sauce, leave uncovered. If not, loosely cover the pan while simmering.

Allow sauce to cool then process with a food mill using the disc with the smallest holes.

If the sauce is to be stored in the freezer, fill into quart-sized Ziplok freezer bags. I prefer 2 cup portions.

If serving immediately, reheat the sauce, add salt and pepper to taste, finish with a knob of butter or a generous spoonful of olive oil and serve over fresh or dried pasta.