Farm Fresh Recipe: Tomato Sauce and Tomato Soup

Summer has finally ended, but we wanted to take this week to share our last farm fresh recipes of 2022.

If you’re anything like me, tomatoes can be super hit and miss. What I mean is, some tomatoes are delicious and others … Not so much, especially fresh. We grew A LOT of tomatoes. Cherry tomatoes, full roma tomatoes… Our tomatoes took over the garden. We were really hoping to make tomato sauce and soup to freeze so this actually worked out really well for us, or so we thought. Until we realized that we overwatered them because of the rain and many split. Unfortunate, but luckily that’s what stores are for. We went and picked up some supplemental roma tomatoes and then we made our sauce and soup! I’ve included the recipes below.

This was definitely one of the highlights of our summer! I’m even feeling a bit nostalgic about pruning the tomato plants now that it’s fall. I’ve included a picture below of the tomatoes including a sad one that wasn’t supported properly as it grew. We recovered it though! (PS LOOK AT THE SNEAK PEAK OF OUR FENCE BEHIND)

Tomato Sauce

Tomato sauce is a staple for us. We use it weekly at least, so having some prepared and in the freezer for pasta and other recipes is a game changer.

Ingredients

• 2 kg Roma Tomatoes
• 2 White Onions
• 2 tbsp Minced Garlic
• 1 tsp Sugar
• 2 tsp Salt
• 3 tbsp fresh basil
• 1/4 cup Olive Oil
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter

Preparation

1. Prepare the tomatoes for boiling by scoring the bottoms of them in an X pattern
2. Boil the tomatoes for about 2 minutes
3. Remove and place in ice bath
4. Peel tomato skins off and chop into chunks
5. Add all tomatoes and juices into a pot
6. Add in onion, garlic, sugar, salt, olive oil and butter.
7. Bring to a boil on high and then reduce heat to a simmer for 2-3 hours
8. Mash tomatoes and onions that are still in large chunks with a masher or slotted spoon
9. OPTIONAL: Blend using an immersion blender for a smoother sauce
10. Stir in Basil
11. Cool and Transfer to freezer safe jars or bags and freeze for up to 3 months

Fresh Tomato Soup

After making the sauce, we still had an additional 4-5kg of tomatoes left over, so we also decided to make fresh tomato soup for those cold fall days that were quickly approaching. I cannot say enough good things about fresh soup. Similar to the tomato sauce, this can be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months. We chose to store two portions in gallon size ziplock bags for easy freezer stackability.

Ingredients

• 3 kg of fresh tomatoes, chopped (we used roma and cherry tomatoes)
• 4 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 whole white onion, diced
• 1 whole bell pepper, diced
• 2 tsp dried basil
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 2 cups chicken broth or reconstituted bullion
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Fresh basil/parsley and parmesan for serving

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 425F
2. Place chopped tomatoes, garlic, onion, bell pepper, olive oil, salt, pepper, oregano and basil in a bowl and mix
3. Spread vegetable mixture on 2 baking sheets
4. Roast for 30 minutes, stirring halfway.
5. Switch oven to broil for 3 minutes until vegetables are just beginning to char
6. Bring broth to a boil in a large pot
7. Transfer vegetable mixture and blend using an immersion blender
8. Let cool and transfer to bags or freezer safe containers for freezing (OR JUST EAT IT)