End of the Season Sauce

     The piles of produce grew as we continued to rip out our autumn garden with the frost laying in the dips along the garden's edges.  Like every year, we had to now find a way to use up, or put up, all of the produce in a semi-timely manner.  There were greenhouse tomatoes resting on our counter.  Another bucket of semi-green tomatoes on the kitchen floor, and yet another container full in the fridge because, let's face it, I ran out of counter and floor space.  A plethora of peppers coated a blanket on the floor of our spare bedroom as they change from green to their rainbow of goodness.  Another bucket full is jammed into the corners of the fridge.  

     Then there were everything that was trying desperately to find it's place to dry from the containers and baskets of herbs and beans to the basil that has overtaken the living room.  There was still more of all of those to come, as well as even more produce, that withstood the light frosts in the garden, and happily warm and cozy in the greenhouse.  It made for a lot of produce to use up, or put up, and I've managed to find just the recipe for a herb laden tomato sauce that made for wonderful mountain pies over the campfire, a zingy marinara for bread sticks, and tastes delightful on noodles.  

END OF THE SEASON SAUCE

Yields: 2 cups.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp Olive Oil (I used Extra Virgin as that's what was on hand)

2 medium cloves Garlic

1/8 cup chopped Onion

3/4 cup loosely packed fresh Basil (I used a mix of Purple Basil and Blue African Basil)

1/2 tbsp fresh Oregano

1/2 tbsp fresh Thyme

1/8 tsp fresh cracked Black Pepper

1 lb Paste Tomatoes, cored

1 tsp Sugar 

Directions:

Saute garlic and onions in olive oil until golden in a saucepan or edged skillet.  In the meantime, blend the remaining ingredients together in a blender.  Add them to the pan, and cook over medium heat until it reaches desired thickness.  (Note: Our paste tomatoes were fresh and not overly juicy or ripe so the thickness was reached in about 20 minutes.)  

Leftovers can be refrigerated for up to one week, or frozen for longer.   This sauce cannot be canned.