By Taylor Waldron
Co-Editor-in-Chief
tswaldro@iu.edu
Hello foodie readers and novice chefs! I have missed this so much. During our 5 month break, I’ve been cooking, eating junk food and watching far too many Tik Toks.
I’ve ventured into the side of food Tik Tok, and there are so many recipes I want to share with all of you. Now more than ever before, I feel like we all have a little more time to get into the kitchen to escape the stressful world around us.
Today we’re not making the infamous Bon Appetit focaccia or a Pinterest recipe for sourdough bread. No, today we are going to talk about the importance of supporting local farmers and why we need to get adventurous in the kitchen.
If you’re new to this column, let’s start off with the fact that I work at the South Bend Farmer’s Market most weekends of the year. I work for Unity Gardens, a local non-profit and urban farm. Because I have frequent access to the farmer’s market, I also typically get a lot of my produce there too.
This past week at our market booth, we had some tomatoes that were getting soft that couldn’t be sold but needed to be either used or composted. I decided to take them home and make a large batch of fresh tomato sauce. I have never made a tomato sauce before.
I took to the internet and watched a video of an old Italian woman who showed me how to make a simple sauce using a variety of fresh tomatoes. After an eight-minute tutorial, I was ready to go.
From making this sauce, I’ve learned that this recipe is a kind of “go with what feels right” sort of process. It was a sort of therapeutic experience that I plan on doing again. It also felt great to support local businesses in buying the ingredients for this recipe. I encourage all of you to get out to a farmer’s market, meet local vendors, and get some great food.
This sauce is great for right-away serving and freezing. I hope that you’ll all take a chance on local food and great sauce!
Tools:
Food Processor or Blender
Cutting board
Chef’s Knife
Pot
Stovetop
Ingredients:
3-5 lbs of tomatoes (pick your favorite variety)
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 large yellow onion
3 cloves garlic
1 Tbsp Italian Seasoning
1 Tbsp Salt
1 Tbsp Pepper
Directions:
- Cut your tomatoes into quarters (4 cubes) and place them in a food processor or blender. If you have to blend in multiple batches, that’s fine.
- Blend tomatoes until semi-chunky. Set aside.
- Mince onion and garlic and set aside.
- Place pot on medium-high heat. Pour olive oil into the pot to heat.
- Once the oil is heated, pour in minced onion and garlic.
- Heat onion and garlic until onion is translucent and garlic is golden.
- Pour the blended tomatoes into the pot and stir.
- Add Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper. Stir tomato mixture.
- Set the heat to high and bring the tomato mixture to a boil.
- Once boiling, reduce heat to a simmer for a minimum of 30 minutes or until sauce thickens to desired consistency.
- Once the sauce thickens, it is ready to serve! If you plan on freezing it, allow the sauce to cool to room temperature before placing in the freezer.
Suggestions:
Serve with your favorite pasta, over chicken, or use as a pizza sauce!
